Britain 'must stop deportations to Congo'

Demonstrators across Britain today will demand that all deportations to the Democratic Republic of Congo are suspended because of reports that people forced to return face persecution and brutality.

Thousands of asylum-seekers fear they will face torture or even murder if they are deported to the DRC, the unstable west African state plagued by human rights abuses. Their fight for the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to take a more compassionate approach to the issue is being backed by 40 MPs of all parties and refugee groups.

Amnesty International warns that executions, murders, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, torture and life-threatening prison conditions are routine in the DRC. This year, more than 600 people died in clashes in Kinshasa, its capital; another 300 died in the Bas-Congo coastal region and much of the east of the vast country is extremely volatile.

Campaigners say failed asylum-seekers sent back to the DRC become prime targets because they are seen as traitors and warn that people sent back have disappeared without trace.

But plane-loads of rejected asylum-seekers have been returned and the British embassy in Kinshasa says it has no evidence that they face mistreatment upon their return. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the former home office minister, has said there is "no objective evidence that those returning to the DRC are being specifically targeted for abuse simply because they have sought asylum".

A court challenge to the Home Office's insistence that the country is safe is planned for September. Activists will present a dossier of information about the dangers to opposition activists and other dissidents in the DRC.

The Bishop of Winchester protested recently that the Home Office "always makes Kinshasa sound like Dorking" and that everyone with experience of the DRC - including himself - found the "mantra-like assurances of the department simply incredible".

The Congo Support Project will hold protests today in London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Glasgow and Cardiff against the Home Office's policy.

Liz Atherton, its co-ordinator, said: "The situation is dire. The treatment of failed asylum-seekers is very bad - there is a very high risk of people [being] arrested when they are sent back." Donna Covey, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "It will be safer and fairer to halt forced removals while the courts are considering the guidance about the Congo."

Forty MPs have backed a Commons motion calling for all removals to be suspended until the court battle over removals to the DRC is concluded. John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, whose constituency includes two immigration detention centres, warned that many people had simply disappeared when they arrived back in the DRC.

He said: "There are really heartrending cases. We have been asking the Government to at least have some process for tracking people after they are deported. The Government can have no confidence in the safety or security of people they are deporting."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said the Government had a "moral obligation" not to deport people to countries that are unsafe. He said: "Jacqui Smith should part company from her predecessors and not play politics with asylum.

"There have been moratoriums on deportations in the past ... There is no earthly reason why the Government cannot wait until the review process over the Congo is complete. We have a moral obligation not to send people back to countries which are in a state of total chaos."

Damian Green, the shadow Immigration minister, said: "The Government has always said that every case should be treated on its merits. If there is serious evidence of appalling abuse in some parts of the DRC, then they will have to act on it."

There are an estimated 6,500 Congolese refugees in Britain. The numbers of asylum-seekers have dropped from 1,475 in 2004 to 1,080 in 2005 and 570 last year. There were 125 in the first three months of this year. Just over 20 per cent of their applications are granted.

A Home Office spokes-man said: "We examine with great care each individual case before removal and we will not remove anyone who we believe is at risk."

Innocent Empi, 36: 'I know I would be killed if I were sent back'

Innocent Empi bears physical and mental scars from the appalling brutality that has gripped the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for decades.

Mr Empi said: "I know I would be killed if I was sent back - I would prefer to take my own life here rather than that."

Innocent, 36, fell foul of the authorities as a student because of his opposition to the government. He was lucky to escape with his life when soldiers broke up a protest. "I was put in a cell without windows. The room was meant for two or three people, but there were 12 in there. The guards beat us three times a day," he said.

He continued his activism after release and was also targeted because of his homosexuality. He said: "It's acceptable to kill and beat them [homosexuals], either by decapitation or by putting tyres around them and burning them."

While on his way to a demonstration, he was confronted by his late partner's family, who wrongly blamed him for his death. "I was beaten and others joined in. It was terrifying. One person stamped on my hand and broke it and they beat me with sticks.

"When the police saw me they saw leaflets on me and saw I was going to the demonstration. Someone told the police I was a homosexual and they took me away."

He reluctantly agreed to spy on fellow activists to avoid jail and was taken to a training camp, but was jailed after he refused to join in murder and cannibalism. He escaped after a relative bribed a guard to let him out.

Now living in Salford, he is fighting not to be sent back. One asylum claim has been rejected and he has submitted a second. He is receiving counselling for post-traumatic stress syndrome and treatment for a severe blood disorder.

He said: "I'm not here for economic reasons. I'm here to seek protection until the situation changes in my country. When it changes, I would be happy to go back."