UK to freeze Syria asylum claims and ‘Red card for Coote’
The fall of Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria continues to lead the papers. The Financial Times says the rebel force that overthrew him, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has “rushed to consolidate its control” of the country, holding meetings with officials from the former government to negotiate a transition of power. The paper adds that an amnesty has been issued for people conscripted into the military under Assad, while state bodies have ordered a resumption of public services.
The Daily Mirror leads with comments from Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who speaking in the House of Commons on Monday branded Assad the “rat of Damascus” and said he had fled to Moscow “with his tail between his legs”.
A report from the notorious Saydnaya Prison in Damascus leads the Guardian. The paper describes the discovery at the site of a “vast underground complex, five storeys deep” containing some of the last prisoners of the regime. It says the complex was believed to hold some 1,500 people and that a “procession lit by thousands of phone torches” streamed through the prison as people entered in search of lost loved ones.
The Times also reports from Saydnaya and, like the Guardian, carries a picture of someone holding up bloodied nooses found at the site. The paper says that, throughout Assad’s 24 years in power, and particularly since the 2011 uprising, thousands of his critics were taken to Saydnaya, though “few ever left”. It speaks to one man, Ahmed, who spent three years in the prison and had travelled there in search of his brother, Anas, who was just 20 when he was jailed. “He’s been imprisoned for more than ten years,” Ahmed says. “We haven’t heard one word from him.”
The UK is to freeze decisions on asylum applications from Syrian citizens while it assesses the situation, the i reports. The paper says there are around 5,000 people from Syria currently awaiting the outcome of an asylum claim, but that the fall of Assad has raised questions about whether they will still need refuge from persecution.
The Daily Telegraph says fears have been raised that British jihadists currently imprisoned in Syria could now return to the UK. Citing security sources, the paper reports that there are around a dozen Islamic State fighters from the UK being held in prisons controlled by Kurdish forces in northern Syria. It says the fall of Assad has “raised the prospect of camps and jails holding foreign fighters being shut down and the jihadists freed to head to Britain”. Turning to the festive season in the UK, the paper notes that a “poor sultana harvest” is “raisin mince pie prices”.
Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger is quoted by the Daily Mail saying there is now a risk that a “very large number” of Islamic State detainees will be freed and that they would pose a “chronic” security threat to the UK.
The Metro reports on the trial of Hassan Sentamu, the teenager accused of stabbing to death Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam in September 2023. The paper says Elianne was a friend of Mr Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend, and that the pair had met him to exchange some bags of possessions. It says the bag Mr Sentamu brought did not contain a teddy bear belonging to his ex, so Elianne tried to grab the other bag back from him. Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC called it a “gesture of solidarity that cost Elianne her life”. Mr Sentamu previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter but is on trial charged with murder, which he denies.
The rise in employers’ national insurance contributions introduced in October’s Budget will cost children’s hospices almost £140,000 a year each in additional staffing costs, according to the Daily Express. The paper quotes Ryan Pannel, whose son Theo died of a rare genetic condition at five and a half months, urging MPs to “do the right thing” and exempt hospices from the rise.
The Sun leads on the sacking of David Coote, a Premier League referee who was seen in a video allegedly making derogatory comments about Liverpool’s then-manager, Jurgen Klopp, and in a photo appearing to sniff white powder through a rolled up bank note. The paper says the PGMOL, the body responsible for referees, found Coote’s to be in breach of his contract and his position “untenable”.
And the Daily Star says Nasa scientists have found Uranus – which it describes as its favourite planet – to be the “most important planet in the solar system”.
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