Home Office Accused of Breaking Pledge to Torture Victims

A charity that provides help to victims of torture and organised violence has accused the Home Office of ignoring a pledge to look sympathetically on asylum seekers with a history of torture.

The July 98 White Paper Fairer, Faster and Firmer said that a history of torture would "weigh strongly" in favour of an asylum seeker being given temporary admission into the UK while their claims were assessed.

However, the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture has recorded eleven cases where instead of being allowed their freedom, torture victims have been detained in mainstream prisons.

Holding asylum seekers in prison, where they are forced to mix with people accused of serious criminal offences, conflicts with the Government's own policy as stated in the same White Paper. It is also contrary to guidelines from the UNHCR, and recommendations from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the monitoring body established by the Council of Europe to ensure compliance with the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture.

In each of the eleven cases, the asylum seekers were imprisoned - on average for just over 9 months, but in one case for more than 20 months - despite giving evidence of torture during initial interviews with immigration officers about their reasons for fleeing into exile.

Medical examination by Foundation doctors found that each of those held had scars - some a dozen or more - and other marks on the body fully consistent with the account of torture.

In only one instance was an asylum seeker quickly freed after being examined by a Foundation doctor. The others remained in prison for months after a medical report from the Foundation had been prepared.

All the victims, had suffered beatings in their country of origin. Five had been sexually assaulted, four of them suspended in contorted positions, three had suffered burning, two had endured semi suffocation and one had been tortured with electricity. In some cases mock executions were also carried out.

Held in a number of British prisons, three upon release were given either full refugee status or exceptional leave to remain, three received temporary admission, two were allowed to stay in Britain after a court ruled that there was a chance they would be tortured if returned home, one was deported and one is still detained.

Foundation research officer Mary Salinsky said: "The Medical Foundation welcomed the pledge in the White Paper and anticipated that it would be upheld through regular reviews of detention cases.

"But this has not been the case. We see no evidence of medical documentation of torture having any impact on how long a survivor of torture is detained. It appears the Home Office is making a mockery of its earlier undertaking.

"All this raises several questions. Does the undertaking in the White Paper have any value now? Similarly, does the Home Office commitment to regularly review detention cases actually mean anything? There are simply no satisfactory mechanisms in place to hold the Government to its word."

To view the report 'Clients Detained in UK in Prisons' prepared by Medical Foundation Research Officer Mary Salinsky

Please Contact Medical Foundation Press Office 0207 813 3445