Fourteen failed asylum seekers told lawyers of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Baghdad that they were beaten by staff from the UK Border Agency in a London airport before being forced onto the plane to Iraq late Wednesday, said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
“We've met with six of them and saw fresh bruises that indicated mistreatment could have occurred,” he told reporters in Geneva.
The 14 were among 42 rejected Iraqi asylum seekers who were sent back forcibly to Baghdad, Mahecic said. He said the agency spoke to eight other deportees by telephone.
“All those interviewed reported that 42 deportees were forcibly returned to Baghdad against their will,” he said.
UNHCR has repeatedly told governments that they should not return asylum seekers to Baghdad and Iraq's five central provinces because the area is not secure enough for their return, Mahecic said.
Britain's Home Office said two of the detainees tried to escape while being taken onboard the plane. Two were handcuffed on the plane, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry regulations.
Most of the Iraqis refused to disembark the plane when it arrived in Baghdad, he said.
The Home Office denied that all of the 42 were failed asylum seekers, saying 17 were foreign national prisoners who had committed drug, weapons and sexual offenses.
The UK Border Agency rejected the allegations of mistreatment. “We would prefer that those with no basis of stay in the UK left voluntarily. However, where they refuse to do so we will take steps to enforce their departure,” said David Wood, who heads the Criminality and Detention Group of the UK Border Agency.
Meanwhile, a UN delegation accused Malaysian police officers Friday of torturing and abusing detainees to obtain confessions, saying suspects prefer prison rather than police custody and immigrant detention centers.
The government must also set up prompt and independent investigations into deaths in police custody, and should repeal or change strict security laws that allow indefinite detention without trial, the five-member UN group said at the end of its two-week visit to Malaysia.
Malick Sow, the delegation head, told reporters it found detainees were “subject to torture or ill-treatment in order to obtain confession or evidence in police detention.” Sow said detainees, some held without the knowledge of their families and lawyers' representation, reported being locked up in small rooms without adequate food, and punched, kicked or drenched in dirty water.
