ENGLAND: 97 Zimbabweans on hunger strike

Zimbabwean asylum seekers in detention centres across England launched a mass hunger strike on June 21, in an attempt to force the British government to stop deporting Zimbabwean asylum seekers. While, on June 23, foreign secretary Jack Straw described the human rights situation in Zimbabwe as of "serious international concern", Britain resumed the deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seekers in November last year. In the first three months of this year, 95 Zimbabweans were deported, and the rate has increased in recent weeks. Many of those returned have been detained upon arrival. On June 24, the planned June 25 deportation of prominent Zimbabwean dissident Crespen Kulingi, an adviser to Mugabe's chief electoral rival, was indefinitely postponed. A Labour MP and the Archbishop of Bulawayo had claimed to media that Kulingi was "most likely" to be killed upon return. The Home Office made no comment on the delay, but reiterated that the deportation policy would not be changed. To help, visit <http://www.ncadc.org.uk>.

From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.

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From GLW issue 631