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Zimbabwean Asylum Seekers
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The government has halted its policy of returning Zimbabwean asylum seekers to their homeland while the political situation there is examined. Home Office ministers had been accused by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of letting down Zimbabwean refugees who have fled to Britain in fear of persecution at home.
With tension high in Zimbabwe in the run-up to the presidential election in March, several members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been killed by government supporters. Despite this, a number of applications for political asylum by Zimbabwean opposition members had been rejected.
Gerald Muketiwa, a supporter of the MDC, was deported from Britain last month. He told the Today Programme how he had been picked up by the security services on his arrival in Harare. After he had been interrogated, and fearing for his life, he escaped through a police station window. He is now in a neighbouring country and is applying for political asylum in Canada.
Another Zimbabwean - who wanted to remain anonymous - but is currently living at the Tinsley House detention centre near Gatwick airport, has had his application for asylum rejected and was due to be deported on New Year's Eve. Although his deportation has been temporarily suspended, he fears that as a member of the MDC he will be beaten and persecuted if he returns to Zimbabwe - "I left home because I was being persecuted because of my political opinions鈥 know that if am I to be returned home it is imminent death."
The Liberal Democrats called on the government to halt the deportation of people to Zimbabwe until further notice. Baroness Williams of Crosby, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords accused the Government of acting illegally - in breach of the UN Convention on Refugees. She said, "It is clearly now not safe for people with any record of political party activity to go back to Zimbabwe. The Government must suspend deportations until the Commonwealth Heads of Government agree that normality has returned and people can live in Zimbabwe in safety and freedom."
Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin told us that the Government should offer a safe-haven to dissident Zimbabweans - "The general principle is that if people are genuinely refugees鈥hen we grant them asylum and clearly people in this condition are awfully likely to be persecuted."
This move comes as Zimbabwe's parliament considers a bill which will restrict the independent and foreign media within the country.
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