"In front of us, they would refer to the immigrants that they’d arrested as 'chinkees', 'niggers' etc. They’d call black people 'spear-chuckers' and 'savages'..."

Jamil Ahmed, was employed by the Home Office from 1992 until 2007. Whilst a senior immigration officer, he launched a race discrimination case against the Immigration and Nationality Department in 2004 and was subsequently sacked by the Home Office over fabricated claims of 'gross misconduct'. In this exclusive interview with al-istiqamah.com, Mr Ahmed sets the record straight regarding his case and describes the institutionalised racism experienced by him and other non-white civil servants.

Al-Istiqamah: Mr Ahmed, could you please give our readers a bit of background to the case?

Mr Ahmed: I was working in the Crime Investigation Section (Beckett House) at that time. We dealt with criminal investigations and I was the only Asian in the department. Then I got my friend Raja a job there, helped him apply etc. So there were two of us. Now with regards to racism, this is an organisation that I’d say is about 20 years behind the police when it comes to using derogatory terms against all nationalities. In front of us, they would refer to the immigrants that they’d arrested as 'chinkees', 'niggers' etc.

Al-Istiqamah: Would they ever use the word 'Paki'?

Mr Ahmed: They wouldn’t say 'Paki' when we were present, but the racist comments were definitely happening. They’d call black people 'spear-chuckers' and 'savages'. I heard those words on numerous occasions. Even just prior to when I joined the team, a senior manager had posters on the office wall with racist terminology referring to black people. A member of staff had complained, but nothing was done.

Al-Istiqamah: What sort of colleagues were you working with?

Mr Ahmed: You have to realize that in these civil servant jobs, the majority of my colleagues were white working class… chavs. For these people, working in immigration is an ideal job. They get well-paid to throw their weight about and get away with racism when dealing with immigrants.

Al-Istiqamah: What made you lodge a case against the Home Office?

Mr Ahmed: My case started over a minor thing. Myself and Raja were out working. The British Transport police arrested someone in Barking (East London). So we went down to do a search of the house. It was an Indian chap. Raja drove me in his Honda EXI 2.2. He was driving a bit fast, but we had the police driving alongside us, so it was all right. We had a white colleague in the car with us. He was a new guy who’d just started and he was an ex-police officer. We did our job and went back to the office. Now this guy went back and told one of the managers that Raja was driving really fast. But because I had spoken my mind in the past and they didn’t like that, the manager comes up to me and says that I was the one driving dangerously! I said “Hold on. You’ve got the wrong person. I wasn’t driving. I was sitting in the passenger seat. So you shouldn’t be accusing me.” And even Raja, he wasn’t driving dangerously anyway.

Al-Istiqamah: They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of you?

Mr Ahmed: Yes. We had 3 police officers with us. If we were driving recklessly, they would have pulled us up for speeding or reckless driving. In the end my manager told the colleague that he shouldn’t have reported the incident, as it wasn’t necessary. Later on, we got a phone call and were told to report to a chief immigration officer. I explained the situation, but he wasn’t willing to listen to my side.

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