Fears for Darfuri asylum seekers after Law Lords ruling

November 14, 2007 (LONDON) — Britain’s highest court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that the government was acting unlawfully by sending Darfuri asylum seekers back to squatter camps in Sudan.

Campaigners voiced disappointment at the ruling, saying it opened the way for hundreds to be sent back after fleeing the violence-torn Sudanese province of Darfur.

Three Law Lords rejected the Court of Appeal’s judgment in April that sending refugees back to camps was “unduly harsh”, saying such action was not unreasonable and there was insufficient evidence they could face torture.

They said the lower court had been wrong to reverse the initial ruling by an asylum and immigration tribunal, which dismissed a challenge by three Darfuri men against their deportation.

British charity The Aegis Trust, which campaigns against genocide worldwide, supported the Darfuris in their bid to stay in Britain.

Campaign director Stephen Twigg told AFP they expected Wednesday’s decision because the case was brought on a point of law rather than new evidence.

But he said the Law Lords’ decision could pave the way for hundreds of Darfuris to be sent back to Sudan unless the government changed its policy and halted removals until the situation there improved.

The charity helped two Darfuris escape from Sudan after they were removed from Britain, he said.

They gave accounts of being detained and tortured by Sudan’s security services but their testimony came too late to be included in the Court of Appeal case and was therefore inadmissable in the Law Lords hearing, he added.

“(British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown has taken a very strong personal stance on the Darfur issue,” he said. “We have seen him and (French) President Nicolas Sarkozy working well together on this issue.

“Then we have the Home Office potentially sending back refugees. It’s inconsistent.”

The president of the umbrella group for Darfuris in Britain, the Darfur Union, said survivors of the conflict who were now in Britain would be “very frightened” by the Law Lords’ ruling.

“They’ve seen their families killed and their villages destroyed by the current regime. They know that removal to Khartoum means torture or death — not just a hard life,” said Abdul Jabar Adam.

“We can see why the Home Office fought this case, but the whole issue of torture has been missed.”

(AFP)