The Church of England demanded on Saturday that the British government stop its forced removal of asylum seekers to troubled Zimbabwe.
The call came as a Cabinet rift over this emotive issue threatened to widen, with ministers understood to have expressed profound concerns about the government returning people to a country whose President, Robert Mugabe, is under attack for abuses of human rights.
One senior government source said the Home Office (interior ministry) policy of forced returns was "outrageous." The disquiet comes as fears grow over conditions in Zimbabwe, where the homes of opposition activists have been razed to the ground by Mugabe's soldiers recently.
PHOTO: AP
"The worsening situation as Mugabe bulldozes people's homes means that we can't guarantee people's safety. I find it incredible that we are still sending people back," the government source said.
The Church's call for the government to act was unusual. "There is suffering and danger facing those asylum seekers deported to Zimbabwe," a spokesman said.
"The situation there demands a compassionate response from our government and an urgent reassessment of their policy," he said.
It is understood some Foreign Office officials have privately expressed alarm that the Home Office is continuing with the returns.
One official was quoted this weekend as saying that the Home Office needed to explain "why they think it is a safe place to send anyone who has defied Mugabe."
The government ended a two-year ban on these enforced removals last November on Foreign Office advice. But it is believed the worsening situation in Zimbabwe has prompted calls for a rethink.
The Labour MP Kate Hoey, who paid a visit to Zimbabwe earlier this year, called on the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to act.
"The officials I speak to keep saying that this is a political decision. In the end Charles Clarke will have to be involved," Hoey said.
"No one is suggesting these people be given the right to stay for ever but the situation has deteriorated so much that we can't send people back. Anyone coming off a plane in Zimbabwe from Britain is seen as anti-Mugabe," she said.
The continued removal has sparked protests in asylum centers across the UK. Yesterday scores of Zimbabweans in the centers completed the third day of a hunger strike.
They were angry at the decision to remove a well-known opponent of Mugabe, Crispen Kulinji, who is being held at Campsfield detention center in Oxfordshire.
Following a parliamentary question tabled by Hoey, Kulinji's removal, scheduled for 10.30pm Saturday night,was deferred. Campaigners have also raised concerns about conditions in the centers.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS