Deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seeker delayed

A ZIMBABWEAN asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 45 days has had her deportation to Malawi delayed for a second time after a judge ruled she was “unfit to fly”.

Maude Lennard, one of several Zimbabweans facing deportation to Malawi after entering Britain on that country’s passports, was told she did not have to board a flight to Lilongwe on Friday.

Lennard, who is a member of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has failed in several bids to stop the UK from deporting her to Malawi where she has been told she faces jail for fraudulently acquiring that country’s passport.

Sarah Harland of the campaigning Zimbabwe Association said: "We're so relieved to hear that her flight has been stopped, and perhaps now these cases will be looked at with some compassion.”

A judge stepped in to stop the removal after a doctor at the Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedford said she was well enough to travel. But a team of doctors who had taken an interest in her case convinced a judge that “to remove her without medical attention would prove a serious risk to her health”, her lawyer said.

“The in-house doctors did not agree with that, but the Immigration Service were presented with cogent evidence that she was not fit to fly," the lawyer added.

Dr Frank Arnold of Medical Justice, who provided evidence that Lennard was too unwell to fly, said: "This is a dangerous situation. Doctors in detention centres appear to be putting the interests of their employers ahead of the interests of their patients. If true, this is a violation of the duties of a doctor, and should be investigated."

Malawian human rights groups warn that Zimbabweans deported to that country face a life of destitution and a criminal trial for breaching that country’s citizenship laws.

Originally, five women embarked on the strike at the detention centre but one was deported to Malawi and another started eating again.

Britain has refused the women’s plea for asylum, insisting that they travelled on “genuine” Malawian passports and are therefore Malawian and not Zimbabwean as they claim.

The UK government is currently not deporting failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe, awaiting the outcome of a country guidance case known as HS (Zimbabwe) which is currently before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT).