Dozens of Irish theatre practitioners have called on the Minister for Justice to use her discretionary powers to allow a man stay in Ireland after he was refused leave to remain in the State. He was given five days to inform the Minister when he planned to return to his country of origin voluntarily. Mr Iqbal says he came to Ireland in 2015 seeking asylum because he had suffered violent attacks for having entered a relationship with a non-Muslim woman. In his letter of support, actor Stephen Rea called on Ms Martin to “please do all in your power” to convince the minister for justice to grant Mr Iqbal leave to remain. The directors of the Dublin Theatre Festival, Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, Dun Laoghaire’s Pavilion Theatre, Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, Limerick’s Lime Tree Theatre, Fishamble Theatre company, the Irish Theatre Institute, Dance Theatre of Ireland and Longford’s Backstage Theatre are among those to appeal to the Minister on behalf of Mr Iqbal.

Source: The Irish Times November 17, 2020 10:37 UTC