‘I will kill myself on arrival’: Syrian asylum seeker fears Rwanda will not be safe

Khaled, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, spoke exclusively to the Guardian from his cell in Colnbrook immigration removal centre. He arrived here in June 2022, and has a history of suffering torture and imprisonment. He said that he and the other asylum seekers “of many nationalities” he is detained with are not coping with being locked up because of the imprisonment and persecution many have previously experienced.

“Everyone is so stressed in here because of Rwanda. We can’t eat and we can’t sleep. I was displaced in Syria for nine years and was imprisoned there and I was also detained and tortured in Libya. Being in detention is very triggering for me. What matters to asylum seekers is to be safe. I will not be safe in Rwanda. If they manage to send me there I will kill myself on arrival in that country.”

He said when he found out about Rwanda in February 2023 he became “very scared”.

“I went to report last week in Birmingham. They arrested me and put me in handcuffs in a police cell. The same thing happened to two other people who were reporting – Iraqi Kurds. After we were taken out of the cell we were handcuffed again and taken in a van to the detention centre. I have been trying to see a doctor in the detention centre because of an infection in my leg I need antibiotics for but so far I haven’t managed to get an appointment.”

A second asylum seeker from Sudan, who was fearful to give his real name, also spent time detained in Libya. He fled Darfur, a longstanding conflict zone in the country.

He arrived in the UK in June 2022 after managing to raise the money to pay his captors in Libya to free him, travelled in a boat which almost sank across the Mediterranean and reached Italy.

“I would have been happy to claim asylum in Italy but Italian officials did not fingerprint me and told me to move on to France. There I was told it would be four years before they could consider my asylum claim so I waited in the jungle in Calais to cross to the UK. Crossing the Channel in an overcrowded boat was even more terrifying than crossing the Mediterranean.

“When I heard about the government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda at the beginning of 2023 I was very frightened. I escaped from an African country because it was not safe and I am very scared to be deported to another African country because I know it will not be safe for me.”

“I was arrested last week when I went to report in Newcastle. They didn’t mention Rwanda until I reached the detention centre and at first just said ‘We are deporting you to a safe third country’.”

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Both men said there are long queues to access fax machines and computers to contact legal representatives and to try to meet the seven-day deadline the Home Office has given asylum seekers to oppose notices of intent for Rwanda.

According to the charity Detention Action at least one man detained for Rwanda has embarked on a hunger strike. He said: “I am damaging my body and my health to get help and to get my voice heard.”

A letter seen by the Guardian given to people detained for Rwanda by the Home Office states that if agreement to send asylum seekers to a safe third country cannot be reached “within a reasonable time your protection claim will be considered by the Home Office” suggesting that not everyone detained for Rwanda will actually be sent there to have their asylum claims processed.

The tortuous journey of the UK government’s Rwanda plan

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More than 100 people are understood to have been detained so far. The charity Care4Calais circulated data about the nationalities of those detained with the majority coming from conflict zones.

Hannah Marwood, the head of legal access at Care4Calais, said: “The people detained have not had their asylum claims processed, and it’s clear from the first cohort we are in contact with that if their claims were processed they would probably be granted refugee status in the UK. It reaffirms how shameful the Rwanda plan is and why it must be stopped.”

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, said he doubted that if they are elected, Labour would bring asylum seekers sent to Rwanda back to the UK.

A Home Office spokesperson said:“We take the welfare of people in our care extremely seriously. There are robust safeguarding measures in place to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and has the support they need.

“All detained individuals have access to a mobile phone, internet and landline telephones so they can keep in contact with friends, family and other support.”