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Deportation threat is lifted from Shetland family after four-year fight

A Burmese mother and her two adopted sons who were facing deportation from Shetland have won a long-running battle to stay on the islands.

Hazel Minn and her sons, Simon and Vincent, first fled to Britain in 2002 to escape Burma's military regime.

Miss Minn, 40, had criticised the military regime as an activist with the Baptist Church in Burma and sold all her possessions to pay for flights to Britain for herself and her sons.

They arrived on Shetland to stay with the children's grandparents and subsequently applied for political asylum. However, in 2004 they were told by the Home Office that they would have to leave the country.

Almost 7,000 islanders, a third of the population of Shetland, signed a petition calling for the family to be allowed to stay in Scotland.

The campaign was also supported by Shetland Islands Council and local church leaders.

Full story at The Scotsman.