UK court decides fate of Zim asylum ssekers

UK court decides fate of Zim asylum ssekers

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By Staff Reporter

A BRITISH immigration tribunal was expected to begin a three-day hearing Wednesday which refugee support groups hope will result in an indefinite ban on the deportation of asylum seekers to Zimbabwe.

Hopes that hundreds of failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe could win a reprieve from orders sending them back to their homeland were raised in August when a senior judge urged the British Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to halt deportations pending a determination by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) on fresh evidence suggesting that failed asylum seekers were in danger of being ill-treated and abused on return to Zimbabwe.

On the basis of material provided by the Refugee Legal Centre (RLC), Justice Collins said it could be "arguable" that it was unsafe to send back failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe.

However, he stressed that he was not saying that was the case, but that the RLC should have the opportunity to put forward its evidence to the tribunal.

The temporary freeze followed intense criticism of government policy from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and a host of MPs.

Legal experts say not even a sympathetic hearing of the five test cases brought by the RLC could result in an indefinite suspension of deportations. The Home Office is expected to present to the court the results of a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe undertaken for the hearing. This will form a significant part of the government's submission in several "country guidance" test cases.

"The RLC's cases are generally weak, " an immigration lawyer told New Zimbabwe.com Tuesday night. "The Home Office which will be given an opportunity to reply will insist that no asylum seeker whose life is in real danger would be returned to Zimbabwe while also sticking to the official line that cases are dealt with on an individual basis."

The legal expert said while there was no harm in raising the "wretched realities of life in Zimbabwe for the deportees", a hearing of such a big case would always favour the Home Office.

He believes once the tribunal decides on the case, and in the event the RLC's petition is thrown out, the British government would begin "full speed" to deport Zimbabweans in order to meet removal targets.

Zimbabwean asylum seekers forced the action when they went on a hunger strike at seven detention centres across the UK in July. Their plight forced MPs and human rights agencies to urge the government to have a re-think on its policy of deporting Zimbabweans.

MPs insisted there was no valid reason for the Home Office to lift an indefinite suspension on the deportation of Zimbabweans which had been in place from March 2002 until November 2004. The Home Office said the immigration system was being abused and the resumption of deportations was necessary.

The British government has refused to recognise President Robert Mugabe's government after two disputed elections which the opposition says were rigged. Britain and its European allies have imposed travel restrictions on Mugabe and close to 125 other government officials.
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