Rwanda deportees from UK include torture victims, doctors say

Many of the asylum seekers scheduled by the UK for deportation to Rwanda have been victims of torture, a medical charity has found, days before the government's widely condemned expulsion plan faces a challenge in Britain's top court.

Doctors from Medical Justice, a British charity advocating for better health rights for detainees, said in a report released Thursday that it had conducted clinical assessments of 17 people told by the UK Home Office that they would be sent to Rwanda.

Fourteen of the migrants had "clinical evidence" that they had been tortured, Medical Justice said, while 15 of them had post-traumatic stress or other complex health problems.

According to the charity, 11 were found to have had suicidal thoughts while in an immigration removal centre. One migrant had attempted twice to take their own life.

Medical Justice said there were also serious fears that some of those assessed may have been victims of human trafficking.

Of the six potential human trafficking victims, three were told by one Home Office team they would be removed, despite other officials separately acknowledging the trafficking concerns, according to Medical Justice.

The charity said their assessments found that the sheer prospect of being expelled was damaging the mental health of those impacted by the policy, including those who are still held in indefinite detention pending removal to the country.

They also said the asylum seekers were being subject to an accelerated and unclear process plagued by procedural deficiencies, a lack of legal advice, and a lack of translated documents.

"Our report shows extremely high rates of evidence of torture, trafficking, and other vulnerabilities in this group, to whom the government plan to deny assessment or interview before they are forcibly removed," said Dr Rachel Bingham, clinical advisor for Medical Justice.

"The policy knowingly places people in an extremely damaging situation and should be considered exceptionally harmful.

"As a doctor, what shocks me most is the total disregard for the need to assess the risks of subjecting individual people to this policy."

A Home Office spokesman told the BBC that Medical Justice's warnings that vulnerable people would be removed to Rwanda were incorrect.

"We have been clear from the start that no one will be relocated if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them," said a spokesman.

"Our thorough assessment of Rwanda has found that it is a fundamentally safe and secure country, with a track record of supporting asylum seekers."

The UK government in April announced it had reached an agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers to the southeast African country, to have their claims dealt with there. Migrants who have travelled through a third safe country or taken "illegal" routes to the UK are eligible for deportation to Rwanda.

The government said the scheme will help end people smuggling and dangerous crossings of the English Channel.

The plan is widely opposed by asylum experts, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The first planned flight was aborted in June after the European Court of Human Rights said UK judges must first rule on its legality. The Supreme Court's judicial review of the policy will take place on Monday.

Reports last week said that the government was planning a new deportation flight, despite the nearing court date.