British authorities wrongly locked up torture survivors

Mr Justice Ouseley ruled that parts of a Home Office policy introduced a year ago allowed for survivors of torture from overseas to be imprisoned, The Guardian reports.

The policy narrowed the ambit of ‘torture’ to mean violence carried out by official state agents only. This meant people tortured by terrorists, traffickers or others could be kept in detention centres.

Today’s judgment states: “The chief problem with the narrowed definition is that it excludes certain individuals whose experiences of the infliction of severe pain and suffering may indeed make them particularly vulnerable to harm in detention.”

The judgment comes after charity Medical Justice brought a challenge along with seven torture victims. Among them were a man kidnapped by the Taliban and two who were tortured because of their sexuality.

One man, a 39-year-old bisexual Nigerian asylum seeker, was detained in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre.

He said: “What happened to me in detention is in my life every day.

“I’m having nightmares about the trauma I experienced in that place and have been diagnosed with PTSD. I felt very bad because of the torture I experienced in Nigeria but doctors confirmed that my mental state deteriorated as a result of being detained here. In detention we are not regarded as human beings but as waste products.”

Emma Ginn, the coordinator of Medical Justice, said: “Narrowing the definition of torture by the Home Office demonstrates its sheer contempt for vulnerable detainees whose lives it is responsible for.

“There is ample justification for immediately releasing all detained adults at risk so they can access the care and support they need in the community.”

The judgment is expected to result in dozens of claims of unlawful deletion against the Home Office.