2 Zimbabwean hunger strikers hospitalised

2 Zimbabwean hunger strikers hospitalised

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By Staff Reporter

A ZIMBABWEAN asylum seeker has been hospitalised in Britain in a "very serious condition" after taking part in a 36-day hunger strike.

Doctors have named the man as Mqhubel Timbha, a teacher who joined a hunger strike by fellow Zimbabwean asylum seekers on 2 June. The protests held across seven UK detention centres was aimed at the deportation of failed asylum seeekers to Zimbabwe.

At its height, an estimated 50 Zimbabweans took part in the food boycott, a number which had dwindled to nine at the weekend, according to the Home Office.

A second hunger striker, who has not been named, was transferred to hospital on Saturday, his solicitor said.

While confirming the pair had been hospitalised, the Home Office insisted there were "no concerns" about their health.

Timbha was being held in a medical unit at the Hammondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, near Heathrow Airport. He was examined by a doctor on Friday.

Dr Frank Arnold told PA News agency: "He was sufficiently ill that, on the strength of my report, the Home Office accepted that he needed to be taken to hospital by ambulence.

"The patient was too weak to stand unaided when I saw him. I had to lift him onto the couch to examine him myself. He was extremely light and his muscles were very wasted.

"Despite his extreme weakness and inability to walk unaided, or perhaps at all, the centre manager required that he was handcuffed in transport to the hospital.

"It was only after the forceful intervention of Kate Hoey MP that the restraints were removed. He is still being watched, at considerable expense to the public, by guards who refuse to leave his room and give him some privacy."

The European Parliament last week added to growing calls for the dportation of asylum seekers to stop when it passed a resolution on Zimbabwe. The EU Parliament called for "the suspension of the return of asylum seekers from member states until the situation in Zimbabwe has improved."

British judges have halted at least three deportations in the past two weeks as pressure mounts for the removals to be suspended. In the latest of judicial interventions, a judge last week ordered all deportations to cease pending the outcome of a test case at the High Court.

Most of the asylum seekers are opponents of the government of President Robert Mugabe, which stands accused of human rights abuses, and say they will face persecution if they are returned home.

At least 106 Zimbabweans have been deported in the past three months.
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