By Tererai Karimakwenda
07 July 2005-07-07

Justice Collins, the British judge who released asylum seeker Crispin Kulinji from detention on Wednesday recommended that all deportations of Zimbabweans from the U.K. be stopped until he has heard all the evidence in the cases before him. The next hearing of these cases will be on August 4th. Zimbabweans celebrated this as good news but the freed Crispin warned that home secretary Charles Clarke, who heads the immigration department, may not necessarily follow the judge's advice.

Most detained Zimbabwean asylum seekers reached day 16 of their hunger strike Thursday, while some who started earlier hit day 35. One detainee on day 35 is said to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Officials are still refusing a request by The United Network of Detained Zimbabweans UK to bring him to a hospital for observation.