Hunger striker deported to Malawi

Rose Phekani, one of the five Zimbabwean women who went on hunger strike on Monday at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedford, was deported to Malawi on Wednesday evening. She is now in danger of facing a lengthy jail term in a Lilongwe prison for fraudulently acquiring a Malawian passport.

Newsreel learnt on Thursday that authorities in Malawi have vowed to crackdown on all Zimbabweans who get deported to their country for using their passports. Its reported authorities there are still furious that all Malawians are now being requested to apply for UK visas, because of the large number of Zimbabweans who were travelling on fake Malawi passports.

Phekani, together with Maud Lennard Kadango, Faina Manuel Pondesi, Zandile Sibanda, and Pauline Chitekeshe are failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe who used Malawian passports to travel to the UK where they unsuccessfully tried to apply for refugee status.

The five sent a petition to the Home Office on Sunday asking to be released from the holding centre, complaining that they did not receive adequate legal representation during the fast track process under which their applications for political asylum were considered.

Speaking to Newsreel on Thursday, Kadango said they were all saddened by Rose’s deportation. She had to be handcuffed and physical forced onto the plane after she tried to take off her clothes in protest at being deported. She was accompanied on the flight ‘home’ via Nairobi, Kenya by two officials from the immigration department.

The remaining four are still on hunger strike although there are concerns about Pondesi who is reported to be very weak. The Home Office has been deporting failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe who travelled to the UK using either Malawian or South African passports. Those who claimed refugee status using Zimbabwe passports and were denied are not being deported.