Political Asylum Seekers In Britain Will Be Returning To Zimbabwe

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President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has stated that Zimbabwean asylum seekers in Britain will be arrested and imprisoned when they are sent home from Britain. Some of those in the U.K. are criminals that were fleeing the law.

Not all of those sent home will go to prison but they will have to pay fines.

Mugabe had “castigated those who tried to tarnish his name alleging political persecution when they were mere criminals fleeing the law, saying they should come back to atone for their ruinous actions”

Mugabe spoke out on the asylum seekers at a Hama High School in Chirumhanzu rural district of his nation. Britain has refused their applications for political asylum. The Zimbabwean asylum seekers have exhausted their rights of appeal and now must make plans to return to their homeland.

“Your claim for asylum has been refused,” the letters say. “I am now writing to make sure that you know that the Border & Immigration Agency is expecting shortly to be able to enforce returns to Zimbabwe. The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has now found that there is no general risk on return for failed asylum-seekers.”

Lawyers for those still in the U.K. argue that since 2000 those who oppose the political party experience intimidation and attacks before and just after political elections.

There are more than 1,000 Zimbabweans in Britain who have sought refuge. They are all part of a mass removal program that the British government is planning.

The first phase of the new asylum removal drive will target 500 failed asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe living in the northwest of England. In all, more than 1,000 people are likely to be affected in the near future, out of some 7,000 Zimbabwean asylum-seekers in the U.K.,” the paper said.

Refugee Council executive Donna Covey says that it is unacceptable that the British government is about to force those seeking asylum to return to their homeland.

There has been no improvement in the human rights situation there, which remains dire,” she said. “We know most Zimbabweans want to return when it is safe and to contribute to rebuilding their country. We should be offering them a form of temporary status here allowing them to work and retain their skills so they’re fully equipped when the situation has improved.”

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