More hunger strikes at UK Detention Centre

By Tererai Karimakwenda

15 November 2005

A fresh round of hunger strikes has been reported at a detention centre in the UK. Seven Zimbabweans are currently in detention at Yarl's Wood centre, and four of them are participating. The hunger strike is to protest the length of time they have been held in detention. Sarah Harland of The Zimbabwe Association told us the lengthy detentions are because they have South African passports. The longest has been held for 7 months now.

The good news is that two of the hunger strikers had a hearing on Tuesday, one will be in court very soon and the fourth might be released this week after proving she is Zimbabwean.

The hunger strikers began their campaign on November 1 st. One of them is 28-year old Thando Mpofu, who is reported to have said she would rather die of starvation than be returned to Zimbabwe. She had not eaten for 11 days as of Tuesday and she believes they all faced torture or even death if they are forced to return home.

There are not supposed to be any Zimbabweans in detention since a tribunal ruled it is not safe to return failed asylum seekers home. But those being held travelled on foreign passports and need to prove they are indeed from Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Association helps with asylum issues, and is always up to date with the latest information. Sarah Harland also talked about the issue of Malawi passports. Zimbabweans who travelled on Malawi passports can be deported because if it is a legitimate one, the UK officials then assume it is safe to send you back there. Sarah said The Association has been working with some NGOs in Malawi and have made progress in trying to find a solution to this Malawi dilemma faced by Zimbabweans.