ASYLUM groups have slammed a Home Office decision to send home hundreds of Iraqis living in Huddersfield.

MPs Kali Mountford, of Colne Valley, and Mike Wood, of Batley and Spen, have been given petitions from the Iraqis to present to the Home Office.

They ask for amnesty until their country is safer.

But the Home Office insist the removal of Saddam Hussein means there is no risk of persecution for the vast majority of Iraqis who had fled the troubled country.

The Home Office has been refusing all asylum applications from Iraqis since the end of the war.

Alan Brooke, of Kirklees Refugees and Friends Together (KRAFT), believes the Government's refusal to let people work if they do not voluntarily return forces them into crime.

He said:

"The Government stops them being able to work in order to starve them into leaving."

Mr Brooke also said it was `ludicrous' to claim it was safe to return to Iraq.

He said: "The British Army cannot even look after their own security never mind that of the civilian population."

Kali Mountford stood by the Home Office's decision and said parts of Iraq were safe to return to.

She said: "Decisions are made on a case by case basis and if people need more representation they will get it.

"I would not expect the Government to send people back to an unsafe area in Iraq.

"Neither would I expect there to be a blanket amnesty for anyone from Iraq.

"The Home Office is satisfied that the individuals concerned will not be at risk."

In a letter from the Home Office, MP Fiona Mactaggart wrote: "If an Iraqi application has been refused and the independent appeal process exhausted that means it is considered safe for the claimant to return to Iraq and they are expected to do so voluntarily.

"The fact that they choose not to return does not entitle them to continuing support."