Dawn had just broken when the bombs dropped on the village in Darfur where Amuna Ibrahim, four months pregnant with her second child, was tending to her young son.

The air assault on Hamada was a prelude to an attack by the Janjawid, the Arab “devils on horseback”, who left 105 people, more than half the village, dead.

The horrors of that day, two years ago, have barely subsided. But, as Mrs Ibrahim sits barefoot on the floor of her home in Doncaster, she faces new horrors — the prospect that she and her two children, one born in Birmingham, are to be sent back to the land from which she fled.

She is among scores of Darfuris summoned in recent days by the Home Office. The sudden rush to deport them — some are due to be flown back tomorrow — comes before a crucial Court of Appeal ruling that could stop Britain from sending them back to Khartoum, the seat of the government that sent the murderous horsemen and bombers to wreak havoc on Darfur.

Mrs Ibrahim grabbed her son, Omar, and fled the Janjawid attack. When she returned, at the end of the day, Hamada was burnt-out and littered with the corpses of women and children.

Mrs Ibrahim, 33, who arrived in Britain 18 months ago, is among 60 Darfuri asylum-seekers who have received letters in the past week, ordering them to report to immigration officials. At least two dozen more, who were in the process of making fresh asylum claims, have been taken into detention in preparation for their deportation — against the explicit advice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who insists that Darfuris are at risk if returned to Khartoum.

Lawyers and campaigners say that the unprecedented flurry of activity is the Government’s attempt to meet deportation targets before the Khartoum route is closed to it. John Bercow, the former Conservative frontbencher who raised the issue in the Commons this week, called on the Government to suspend the deportations until after the judicial ruling.

“It is unacceptable for the Government to steamroller ahead with a policy that may be very soon judged out of order,” he told The Times. “By returning them, the Government is exposing vulnerable people to possible imprisonment, torture or death.”

His comments came after revelations about a Darfuri deported from Britain to Khartoum who was tortured on arrival by intelligence agents. They had apparently been made aware of his return by Sudanese embassy officials in London who had worked with the Home Office to deport him.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We constantly monitor the situation in Sudan and in line with current case law continue to consider that it is safe to return Sudanese nationals, including those from Darfur, found not to be in need of international protection.”

Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali, who fled to Britain three years ago after his village in Darfur was burnt to the ground, is due to be deported tomorrow.

He received a letter eight days ago summoning him to an immigration interview where he was told that his asylum application had failed because he was unable to prove that he would be at risk in Khartoum, despite proving he was a Zarghawa, a member of the Darfuri tribe routinely targeted as enemies of the State.

He spoke to The Times shortly after officials handed him his plane tickets. “If I have to go, I will be killed the moment the plane lands,” Mr Abdulhadi said tearfully. “I am a Zarghawa. There is no future for me if I go back.”

His lawyer has argued that the Home Office omitted to consider crucial evidence, including tribal scars that mark him out as a Zarghawa.

It is not what the victims of “ethnic cleansing” expected from Britain. “Britain gave me the feeling I could be safe here. Now they are sending me to my death. Is this human rights?” asks Mr Abdulhadi.

Bloody conflict

— Darfur is roughly the size of France. Its main industry is subsistence farming

— SLA and JEM rebels bombed government targets in September 2003 in protest against alleged neglect of the region

— In December 2003 the Janjawid began a “scorched earth” campaign, burning villages and raping women

— UN confirmed in April 2004 that a campaign amounting to “ethnic cleansing” was being waged

— A ceasefire in 2004 and a peace deal in 2005 failed

— More than 2 million are now displaced; between 50,000 and 500,000 dead

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