The first flight, scheduled to take refugees to Rwanda on Tuesday, could be canceled due to a late stream of individual legal challenges, government sources said.
As Interior Ministry lawyers are grappling with two legal challenges from activists and charities on Monday, Interior Ministry officials acknowledged that the plane may not take off due to challenges from lawyers working on behalf of refugees who it is said that they will be sent to an east African country.
The development comes after a coalition of two refugee charities, Detention Action and Care4Calais, and the PCS union, which represents Border Forces officials, received permission Friday to appeal the rejection of their order Monday morning. The charity Asylum Aid, backed by Freedom from Torture, will make another attempt to suspend flights to the Supreme Court this afternoon.
Although it was reported that 130 people who came to the UK had received “removal instructions”, government sources said the number of those who could reach the plane to Rwanda was declining.
“I think it can be repealed,” a government source said. “This is due to individual cases rather than a general challenge.”
Lawyers acting on behalf of those designated for removal are said to have either filed legal appeals over the weekend or warned that they would do so on Monday or Tuesday. Many do so under the Human Rights Act or modern slavery legislation.
An Iranian human rights informant – who was told last week that he would be flown to the East African country despite fleeing to the United Kingdom after testifying first-hand about potential violations by the Iranian government – is among those who received a letter this weekend saying he would not be sent to Rwanda.
The man, whose plight was highlighted for the first time in the Guardian, received a letter from the Home Office, signed on Sunday, saying he would not be removed on Tuesday, but said fears of a new attempt at deportation remains.
“I’m still very stressed about what will happen next,” he said.
It is believed that a Spanish airline has agreed to undertake a deportation flight on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, Privilege Style received permission to fly to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. from Stansted Airport in Essex.
Care4Calais said on Monday that only 10 refugees, who are due to be on the first flight from the UK, have since been told by the Home Office that it will still be so.
The Court of Appeals will decide whether all flights should be banned until a judicial review of asylum policy in Rwanda is heard next month.
Priti Patel, the interior minister, says offshore policies will help stop the growing number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats to seek refuge in the UK.
Questions remain about the status of those threatened with deportation.
The Guardian understands that three children of disputed age, who have been declared adults by the Interior Ministry and detained in preparation for flying to Rwanda, have now been released. Understandably, concerns have been expressed as to whether at least three other detainees threatened with relocation to the East African country are children and not adults.
Sign up for the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BST
The Refugee Council said many of the people who were originally scheduled to fly on Tuesday were children. The British Dental Association has said it does not recognize the Home Office’s technique for using dental checks to determine a person’s age.
Boris Johnson defended the plan for Rwanda despite criticism from the Prince of Wales, who was quoted as saying this weekend that it was “horrifying”.
The prime minister insisted the plan aims to break the business model of human trafficking gangs.
Asked if Charles was wrong, Johnson told LBC Radio: “What I don’t think we should support is the ongoing activities of criminal gangs.
In an article for the Telegraph, Rwanda’s High Commissioner Johnston Bushingi insisted the country would be a “safe haven”.
Busingye said he was disappointed that critics had questioned Rwanda’s motives for agreeing to the scheme and questioned its ability to provide safe haven for vulnerable asylum seekers.
Add Comment