Appeal over Darfur asylum ruling

Human rights groups and other activists will mount a protest in Westminster to coincide with a Home Office appeal in the House of Lords against a legal victory for Darfuri asylum seekers earlier this year.

Judges in the Court of Appeal in April brought a halt to the relocation of Darfuri asylum seekers to Sudanese refugee or squatter camps in a test case brought by three Darfuri subsistence farmers.

The judges ruled that the oppressive conditions in the camps near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in addition to the lack of resources for economic survival and the total alteration in a refugee's life were powerful factors indicating that such resettlement was "unduly harsh".

The judges did not accept argument based on the risk of returnees being tortured at the hands of the Sudanese government.

The Government has already said it will review policy guidance on asylum claims from the Sudan in the light of a report issued by The Aegis Trust, a charity which campaigns against genocide.

However the Home Office has said it is normal to review evidence of this nature, and it would be wrong to presume that there will be a policy change as a result of the review.

The Aegis trust report detailed allegations of "shocking torture" of Darfuri asylum seekers who were deported from the UK to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We remain of the view that those who face persecution in Darfur can reasonably be expected, if their asylum bid fails, to relocate to Khartoum where the Court of Appeal found there is no risk of persecution.

"As we have repeatedly made clear, the Government has grave concerns about the appalling human rights situation in Darfur, and we will continue to press for an end to abuses."