HUNDREDS of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers held in detention centres have began a hunger strike over Britain’s decision to speed up their removal and send them back to face torture from Robert Mugabe’s regime.

Scores of Zimbabwean refugees have been removed forceably from Britain in the past month at a time when the United Nations has ordered an investigation into President Mugabe’s latest terror operation which has made up to a million people homeless.

Human rights groups and MPs last night demanded that the Home Office stop the deportations. They are urging Tony Blair to discuss the plight of the refugees at next month’s G8 summit at Gleneagles.

The hunger protest was started after Crespen Kulingi, an opposition leader, was told he was to be removed on Saturday. Mr Kulingi, 32, who is a close aid of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Chang (MDC), is in a wheelchair after suffering crippling injuries in detention in Zimbabwe. His supporters last night condemned his imminent deportation in what is Refugee Week.

Detainees in the Harmondsworth detention centre at Heathrow, Campsfield House, in Oxford and the women’s removal centre at Tinsley House at Gatwick are all understood to have joined the protest.Mr Kulingi, in Campsfield House, said: “I am truly frightened I will be killed if I am sent back to Zimbabwe. I don’t understand why Mr Blair and his ministers condemn Mugabe as a cruel dictator to his people and yet Britain sends us back to face his wrath.”

Tafara Nhengu, 25, an actor, is held at Harmondsworth and is expecting to be deported in the next fortnight. He says he was beaten and tortured by youth militias from the ruling Zanu (PF) party. He said: “We are so desperate and afraid we decided to do something drastic. I would rather starve to death than be sent back.”

The Government ended a two-year ban on enforced removals in November after ministers argued that it was being abused. The Home Office ruled that it was safe for failed asylum-seekers to return to Harare despite the outspoken condemnation of human rights abuses there by the Prince of Wales, Jack Straw and the Prime Minister. More than 15,000 Zimbabweans have sought sanctuary here in the four years up to 2004, though only a few hundred have been granted asylum.

The Zimbabwe Community Association in London said that in recent weeks asylum-seekers who report every week as required to immigration officials have been detained without warning and given only a few hours’ notice that they are to be sent back. Amnesty International said 95 Zimbabweans were forcibly removed in the first three months of the year but it fears the rate of deportations has been speeded up.

Kate Hoey, the Labour MP, who this month witnessed the brutality of President Mugabe’s forced expulsions, said: “I know what a dangerous place Zimbabwe is for those who speak out against the regime and I can’t imagine how the Home Office can say it is safe for these people to be sent back,” she said.

The Home Office said: “Regular country assessments are carried out in order to ascertain the current country situation and ensure the safety of returning people to their country of origin who have no legal basis of stay in the United Kingdom.

“In light of this we would not remove anyone to a country where their lives would be in danger. We are returning people to Zimbabwe where it is found to be safe to do so.”

GOVERNMENT BERATES MUGABE

“I and others argued that it was inconceivable that Zimbabwe should be readmitted to the councils of the Commonwealth, and that . . . it should remain suspended until we saw concrete evidence of a return to democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.”



Tony Blair, Dec 2003

“The fact that President Mugabe and Zanu PF have resorted to these methods of violence, intimidation, murder and charges, many say are trumped up, against the MDC . . . illustrates his lack of confidence in his own ability to win a free and fair election.”



Jack Straw, March 2002

“The whole world has been appalled at the violence and terror unleashed by the government of Zimbabwe.”

Peter Hain, June 2000

REASONS TO BE AFRAID

CRESPEN KULINGI 32

Arrived in Britain in September 2004 on a Malawian passport as his Zimbabwe documents had been confiscated. He admitted this to immigration officers when he claimed asylum at Heathrow and produced his son’s birth certificate and other paperwork to prove his identity. He said that he fled after being beaten into a coma in prison and then spent months in hospital. He is now in a wheelchair.

His plight has been documented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. His six-year-old son remains in Zimbabwe with his former wife.





TAFARA NHENGU 25

Arrived in Britain in August 2002. He was a member of a theatre group that performed at MDC rallies. His former director, Norman Takawira, was found dead after disappearing in 2003.

Mr Nhengu was supported by church groups in Derby where he lived after his asylum application was first turned down in April 2003. He has been held at Harmondsworth since April last year. His family remains in Bulawayo.

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