Congolese asylum seekers face 'torture with discretion' after removal from UK
Secret orders to border officials revealed as UK detains dozens in
preparation for deportation
Diane Taylor and Mark Townsend
The Observer, Saturday 15 February 2014 17.40 EST

An unnamed prisoner undergoing torture at Kin Maziere, the secret
police HQ in Kinshasa.
A top-secret document circulating among senior police and security
chiefs in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggests that individuals
deported from Britain may face torture on their return to their home
country.
Details of the document have emerged as the Home Office begins to
detain dozens of Congolese nationals for removal, despite concerns
over human rights abuses.
The highly sensitive document is an order from Congo's ministry of the
interior, circulated to senior officials in the national intelligence
agency, Agence Nationale de Renseignements, the police and the
Direction Générale de Migration and leaked to the Observer. It
instructs security chiefs to track down and arrest opponents of the
government, including members of the main opposition party, the Union
for Democracy & Social Progress, and suggests torture could be used
with "discretion".
Emphasis is placed on targeting political activists living in the UK
and other parts of Europe who are forcibly removed to the Congolese
capital, Kinshasa. They are referred to as "combatants", or traitors
considered to be fighting against the government.
Written in French, the document states: "Above all, be on the lookout
for the return to the country (of combatants) by
refoulement" (a term referring to the expulsion of persons who have
the right to be recognised as refugees).
Officers are asked to "intensify the rigour" with which they uncover
these combatants. It adds: "A list and certain photos will be sent to
you without delay."
The document then states: "The treatment reserved for these people is
clear: torture and other things must be done with the greatest
discretion. These orders must be carried out flawlessly."
Human rights organisations have frequently raised concerns over the
country's human rights abuses. A Home Office fact-finding mission,
published in November 2012, documented eight human rights
organisations in the DRC who said failed asylum seekers were at risk
of torture on their return.
A report by Justice First monitored 11 returnees to the DRC from the
UK for a period up to September 2013. Nine had been detained, of whom
eight were imprisoned and two died, one apparently after receiving
severe beatings from Congolese officials.
The document passed to the Observer urges police, immigration and
secret service officials to be on the lookout for asylum seekers who
have been forcibly returned at the different border posts in Kinshasa,
including Ndjili airport, Ngobila Beach on the border between Congo
and Congo Brazzaville, and other secret entry points along the river
which borders the two countries.
The apparent confirmation that returnees from the UK could be tortured
has emerged as the British government prepares to start removing
failed asylum seekers to the DRC after a two-year period in which only
a handful have been deported due to concerns about the risk of
torture.
The Observer has learned that failed Congolese asylum seekers
throughout the UK have recently been arrested and detained in various
immigration detention centres. One law firm has identified 13 recent
arrests, while other lawyers have confirmed more cases.
One Congolese asylum seeker who is five months pregnant is being held
at Yarl's Wood Immigration Detention Centre in Bedfordshire. She said:
"I won't survive if they send me back. I was arrested last week when I
went to sign on in Cardiff. Another young pregnant Congolese woman
arrived here this week. There are six women from Congo here altogether
and we are all very scared about what will happen to us if the British
government sends us back home."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The UK has a proud history of granting
asylum to those who need it and we consider every application on its
individual merits.
"Any decision to refuse asylum is made on the basis that it is safe
for someone to return to their country of origin. The courts have
ruled that failed asylum seekers who are returned to the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) are not at risk of treatment contrary to
article three of the European Convention on Human Rights."
http://www.google.ca/gwt/x?gl=CA&hl=en-CA&u=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/16/congo-torture-asylum-seekers&q=congolese+asylum+seekers+uk+removal
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