IMMIGRATION officials were accused last night of bullying Zimbabwean detainees in an attempt to break their hunger strike. Alleged ringleaders of the protest have apparently been moved into solitary confinement.

Detainees told The Times that they were threatened by staff at several detention centres and told that they would be the first to be deported once the Government lifts the present, unofficial freeze on forced expulsions.

The Home Office has told immigration chiefs to halt all removals until after the G8 summit.

Human rights groups and MPs condemned the threats being made against hunger strikers. The Labour MP Kate Hoey said: “This just shows how desperate the Government is to end the hunger strike before they host the G8 summit.”

“This is shocking behaviour and not what you expect of our Government. I’m sure the British public will be shocked by this sort of bullying tactic.”

She will visit detainees today at the Harmondsworth removal centre near Heathrow, where two men are said to have been moved into an isolation unit. They are not allowed any contact with the other Zimbabweans, who are now on the ninth day of their fast.

One 26-year-old man, who did not want his name published, said that in a late-night visit staff at the centre accused him of being a protest organiser: “They told me ‘Make your group give up the hunger strike’. They were looking for a scapegoat. I am not the ringleader.

“We are all keeping up the fast as a show of solidarity and we will continue to do so. Staff have told us the deportations have stopped, but for how long?”

The detainee, who is a qualified nurse and trained at a UK university, said: “I know it is difficult for Tony Blair to have us refusing food but he must know why we are harming ourselves. If we are sent home, we will be in much greater danger.”

Zimbabwe refugee groups say similar threats have been made at other removal centres.

Mafungasei Maikokera, 24, who has been held at the Yarlswood womens’ detention centre for the past six months, said that staff there demanded that she reveal the name of the protest leader among the hunger strikers there.

“They threatened to put me in solitary confinement unless I stop the protest. Stopping now because deportations are halted until G8 is over is not a good enough reason. The authorities are just trying to cover their backs until after the summit. What will the Government say if one of us dies?”

A group of Zimbabwean doctors working in Britain asked yesterday to make an urgent visit to check on the hunger strikers.

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