STUDENTS from south Asia who were accused of cheating in an English test have revealed how the ordeal has wrecked their lives and health.
More than 2,500 people were deported and at least 7,200 more were forced to leave Britain since 2014 after international testing organisation ETS alleged they had broken rules in an exam it marked.
It has since emerged that some of the students, who were mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, were wrongly accused.
A BBC investigation in February raised fresh doubts about the evidence used to deport thousands of people who had no right to appeal. It found that some tests were faked through “remote testing” - where some centres had software that allowed test computers to be secretly controlled from other rooms – which lawyers believe undermines ETS’s evidence.
Nazek Ramadan, director of charity Migrant Voice who has been supporting students affected, told Eastern Eye: “One student from Pakistan became so ill, his doctor told him you need to [leave] the country.
“His family from didn’t believe him. They didn’t believe this could happen in the UK, they thought it was a fair country and has the best justice system.
“He became destitute, slept in streets, mosques for a couple of years in Pakistan. He got help from a barrister and is back here studying.
“A lot of parents said to their child, ‘if you’re are innocent, go and clear your name. You have brought shame on us’ – the pressure they were under.”
Migrant Voice is now stepping up its campaign to get justice for those who were wrongly accused of cheating.
Ramadan added: “There are tens of thousands affected by this scandal and injustice.
“They are those still in limbo who want to get justice and clear their name and see their light at the end of the tunnel and rebuild their life. They want their name to be removed [online], it affects their visa and study applications.
“They can’t go back to uni, their course no longer exists, they have to pay and apply again.
“The challenge for the government is acknowledge this and help them with applying to universities.”
The government asked ETS in 2014 to probe the scale of student cheating across more than 100 independent centres which were contracted as test venues.
It was sparked by a BBC investigation that revealed two London test centres were running fraudulent exams so people could falsely obtain a pass they could use to apply for a visa.
Among the students who have been supported by Migrant Voice is Wahidur, who is originally from Bangladesh.
He said: “It was devastating; it was a miserable life. All my rights had been taken away.
“They took away the prime of my life. It will always haunt me. For nothing, I lost seven years of my life.”
Sarabjeet, from India who lives in west London, said: “Everybody was asking me:
‘Are you a cheater? Did you cheat the Home Office?’ Me, my future, my kids, everything is shattered now.”
“I can’t go back to my country with this allegation. I am hoping the judge will make the right decision; he is my last hope.”
Amjad Malik (Photo: LinkedIn)
Amjad Malik, a solicitor in Greater Manchester, said he spoke to many international students who claimed they have been wronged and ETS were unwilling at the time to release data or allow independent third party verifications by experts.
He told Eastern Eye: “I think after recent revelations, using ETS service data and evidence in decision making must be stopped.
“An independent investigation must be carried out to seek course correction.
“It’s unfortunate that justice is not done with international students who were here legally and paid a huge amount of money to study. The system failed them.”
The government is continuing to contest immigration appeals against accusations based on ETS’s evidence. By 2019 more than 3,700 students had won their cases. There are understood to be around 26 compensation claims underway against the Home Office, but some cases would now be judged invalid because of time limits.
Shakil Rathore, a student from Pakistan who won his legal case, said: “If it’s wrong in my case, which I have proven, it might be wrong in every case.”
And despite his successful legal challenge, which cost him more than £50,000, he added: “I have lost the years that I can never get back.”
The Home Office said it had consistently been found that the evidence it had at the time was sufficient to take immigration enforcement action.
It added: “Where somebody’s test has been identified as having been taken by use of a proxy test taker, they are able to challenge a consequent adverse decision by taking it to either judicial review or appeal, which is independent of the Government.”
ETS said it “shared our methodology and findings with the UK Home Office but did not make any recommendations in relation to the same nor was ETS involved in determining how such information was utilised by the Home Office in its subsequent actions.”
ETS added that it would continue to improve test security.
THE UK government said on Sunday it is examining the use of military sites to house migrants, amid growing criticism over the practice of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels.
"We are looking at the potential use of military and non-military use sites for temporary accommodation for the people who come across on these small boats," defence secretary John Healey told Sky News.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement that migrants using boats to cross the Channel from France was "utterly unacceptable".
According to figures published Sunday by the Home Office, more than 30,000 people have arrived in Britain by boat since the start of the year.
Mahmood also said a new deal with France, which came into effect in early August, would allow Britain to detain those arriving by boat and return them to France.
The arrangement requires Britain to accept an equal number of eligible migrants from France.
Some hotels currently used to house migrants have seen protests, and the government is also facing legal challenges. By law, asylum seekers must be provided with accommodation and access to health care.
Prime minister Keir Starmer has pledged to end the use of hotels within four years. The government has already reduced the number of hotel places by half compared to a year ago.
The previous Conservative government had already prepared two disused military bases to house several hundred asylum seekers, a measure criticised by migrant-aid groups.
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London Underground services will not resume before 8am on Friday September 12. (Photo: Getty Images)
First London Underground strike since March 2023 begins
RMT members stage five-day walkout after pay talks collapse
Union demands 32-hour week; TfL offers 3.4 per cent rise
Elizabeth line and Overground to run but face heavy demand
THE FIRST London Underground strike since March 2023 has begun, with a five-day walkout over pay and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are staging rolling strikes after nine months of negotiations failed.
The union has demanded a 32-hour week, while Transport for London (TfL) has offered a 3.4 per cent pay rise.
TfL said the offer was “fair” but added that a reduction from the contractual 35-hour week “is neither practical nor affordable,” BBC reported.
The strike runs from midnight on Sunday 7 September until 11.59pm on Thursday 11 September. London Underground services will not resume before 8am on Friday 12 September.
Nick Dent, director of customer operations at London Underground, said it was not too late to call off the strikes before disruption.
The Elizabeth line and London Overground will run as normal but are expected to be much busier. Buses and roads are also likely to see heavier demand.
A separate dispute will shut the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 September.
Service plans include: limited Tube operations ending early on Sunday 7 September; little or no service on the Underground from Monday to Thursday; and full resumption by late morning on Friday 12 September. The Elizabeth line will not stop at Liverpool Street, Farringdon and Tottenham Court Road stations at certain times on 8–11 September, Sky News reported.
The last full Tube strike took place in March 2023.
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FILE PHOTO: US president Donald Trump meets with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said India and Russia seem to have been "lost" to China after their leaders met with Chinese president Xi Jinping this week, expressing his annoyance at New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.
"Looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three leaders together at Xi's summit in China.
"I don't think we have," he said. "I've been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil, as you know, from Russia. And I let them know that."
Asked about Trump's social media post, India's foreign ministry told reporters in New Delhi that it had no comment. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment and representatives for the Kremlin could not be immediately reached.
Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
Putin and Modi were seen holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side.
"I'll always be friends with Modi," Trump told reporters. "He's a great prime minister. He's great. I'll always be friends, but I just don't like what he's doing at this particular moment. But India and the US have a special relationship. There's nothing to worry about. We just have moments on occasion."
"Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate president Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties," the Indian prime minister said in an X post early on Saturday (6).
India and the US have a "very positive ... forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership," Modi said.
Trump has chilled US-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump this week said he was "very disappointed" in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties.
Trump has been frustrated at his inability to convince Russia and Ukraine to reach an end to their war, more than three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
He told reporters on Thursday (4) night at the White House that he planned to talk to Putin soon.
(Reuters)
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Nigel Farage gestures as he speaks during the party's national conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Britain, September 5, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
POPULIST leader Nigel Farage vowed to start preparing for government, saying the nation's two main parties were in meltdown and only his Reform UK could ease the anger and despair plaguing the country to "make Britain great again".
To a prolonged standing ovation by a crowd at the annual party conference on Friday (5), Farage for the first time offered a vision of how Britain would be under a Reform government: He pledged to end the arrival of illegal migrants in boats in two weeks, bring back "stop-and-search" policing and scrap net zero policies.
Despite having only four lawmakers in the 650-strong British parliament, Farage is becoming increasingly confident that his party - which was on the fringes for three years until last year - can beat both Labour and the Conservatives, taking the initiative on every issue from immigration to free speech.
Everything from the large crowds queuing to enter the two-day, sold-out conference in the English city of Birmingham, to the standing ovations and Farage chants, underscored a newfound confidence in the party which, according to current opinion polls, is on course to take power at an election due in 2029.
Farage said British people frequently told him he was "the last chance we've got to get this country back on track", describing the nation as being abandoned by Labour and as being run by unqualified people "not fit for government".
"All I can do is promise that I will give this everything, I will give this absolutely everything that I've got," he said. "No one cares more about the state of this country than I do. I am determined to do something about it."
When he spoke later on the stage to encourage supporters to attend an evening party, one young woman shouted "Tax the rich!", prompting six security guards to carry her out of the conference hall.
Zia Yusuf looks on during the party's national conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Britain, September 5, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
Unveiling a new defection to Reform from the Conservatives - former culture secretay Nadine Dorries - Farage said he was setting up a department for the preparation of government and appointing ex-Reform chairman Zia Yusuf as head of policy.
He said the move was part of "the next steps" - the banner of the conference - towards government, building on Reform victories at local elections earlier this year and the increasing professionalism of a party once better known for candidates making reported racist or offensive remarks.
Loved or loathed after being instrumental in winning the 2016 Brexit referendum to get Britain out of the European Union, Farage says that by bolstering his team, the party will be a fighting force well before 2029, when the next election is expected.
Farage has led the running against Britain's traditional two mainstream parties on immigration, unveiling - when prime minister Keir Starmer was on holiday - a plan to repeal human rights laws to allow for mass deportations of asylum seekers.
Despite analysts questioning the legality of those plans, they seemingly prodded the government into beefing up its own plans to tackle the high numbers of arrivals.
Farage has also orchestrated a debate about freedom of speech in Britain, criticising arrests of people for making comments on social media deemed to incite violence.
A friend of Donald Trump, Farage went to Washington this week to urge US politicians to persuade Britain to put an end to what he called a North Korea-style clampdown on free speech, before visiting the US leader in his Oval Office.
Starmer criticised Farage for going to Washington to criticise Britain, calling it "unpatriotic".
Reform UK has yet to command as many political donations as the two main parties, and it was not clear how many business representatives were at the conference, although Farage promised to end what he called an "exodus" of the wealthy from Britain.
Before leaving the stage to blaring music and pyrotechnics, he said the party's ambitious programme was what Britain needs.
"It needs hope, it needs belief, it needs to smile again, it needs to believe in who we are."
(Reuters)
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The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping triggered a series of demonstrations across the country during heightened tensions over immigration. (Photo: Getty Images)
AN ETHIOPIAN asylum seeker, whose arrest in July led to protests outside a hotel near London where he and other migrants were housed, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman.
The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 20 miles (30 km) from London, triggered a series of demonstrations across the country during heightened tensions over immigration.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was convicted at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman. He was also found guilty of attempting to sexually assault the girl, inciting her to engage in sexual activity, and harassment.
"This was an incident which became a cause of deep concern for the local community," said prosecutor Rebecca Mundy.
Immigration has become the main political issue in Britain, overtaking concerns about the economy, with record numbers of asylum claims and migrant arrivals by small boats across the Channel.
Prosecutors said that on July 7 the girl had offered Kebatu pizza because he looked hungry. He then tried to kiss her, touched her thigh, said he wanted a baby with her and her friend, and invited them back to the hotel.
The next day, when the girl was in her school uniform, he again attempted to kiss her.
District Judge Christopher Williams said the girl’s evidence was consistent and he did not believe she or other witnesses fabricated their accounts.
Kebatu, who had moved to the Bell Hotel about a week before the incident, denied the charges, telling the court he was "not a wild animal".
The asylum seeker said he was a teacher in Ethiopia and claimed the woman had given him her phone number and repeatedly invited him to her home.
His arrest sparked protests outside the hotel, some of which turned violent. The local council obtained a temporary injunction to prevent asylum seekers from being housed there, but it was overturned last week after a government appeal.
Opposition politicians accused prime minister Keir Starmer of prioritising migrants’ rights over those of local residents.
Government data shows that just over 32,000 migrants were housed in hotels across the UK as of the end of June. The government has said it will end the practice before the next election, scheduled for 2029.