First Rwanda flight may be halted after ECHR’s late intervention
A European human rights court has made a dramatic 11-hour intervention in the government’s controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda that could form the basis of an inaugural flight to the East African nation.
Lawyers for one of the asylum seekers due to take off at around 9.30am have made a successful emergency application to the ECHR after the applications were exhausted in UK courts.
In its initial decision, a letter from the court said that the asylum seeker should not be removed on Tuesday evening.
Sources claimed that the grounds cited apply to all asylum seekers who are facing removal, so all asylum seekers due to board the plane tonight can rely on the court’s ruling.
Everyone will get off the flight!!
No one will be deported to Rwanda tonight!!
We have won today, but we will continue to fight tomorrow and against every racist exile
— Stop Deportations (@StpDeportations) 14 June 2022
Flight ‘not expected to take off’ after series of legal challenges of late
The last remaining asylum seekers are understood to have been taken off the flight of late after a series of legal interventions, ITV is reporting.
There is currently confusion over the number of refugees flying from Wiltshire to Rwanda, which is flying shortly.
The takeoff from the Boscombe Down Military Runway in Wiltshire is now expected to take place at approximately 10.30am.
The cabin crew appears to be boarding and people in high vis jackets have also been seen boarding the plane.
But there is still a lot of confusion regarding the number of people on board.
— Molly Blackall (@mollyblackall) 14 June 2022
The Care4Calais charity tweeted that there is now only one asylum seeker on the flight:
BREAKING: The ECHR has banned the deportation of two more people to Rwanda.
Two more have canceled their tickets.
We are down one in flight.
— Care4Calais (@Care4Calais) 14 June 2022
There are reports that there are only three asylum seekers on the plane.
Looks like we’re now down to three people on the Rwanda deportation flight – it’s an entire plane that has been chartered for just three people…
— Shahab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) 14 June 2022
The first plane to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is due to take off soon.
The number of asylum seekers on board is unknown after a series of legal interventions of late.
Away from a scheduled flight to Rwanda, security measures have been urged in Parliament to prevent the UK Infrastructure Bank from becoming a “plaything” of the Treasury.
Concerns have been expressed at Westminster over proposals that would allow the treasury to alter the activities of the body set out in law, the so-called Henry VIII powers.
The provisions would also allow the Treasury to modify what is defined by the infrastructure.
Several peers have called for the removal of these measures from the UK Infrastructure Bank bill, amid concerns over the institution’s operational independence from the central government.
The House of Lords is examining the law, which puts the bank on a legal level, currently acting on an interim basis after Brexit.
Criticizing the proposed powers for the Treasury in the bill, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Sharkey said: “They try to give executive power to make policy before they decide what that policy is.”
The deportation of two asylum seekers tonight from Britain has been postponed due to a flight to Rwanda, Sky News reports.
The European Court of Human Rights has granted an urgent interim measure to prevent the removal of an Iraqi detainee who was to be deported. The court indicated to the UK government that the applicant should not be deported to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in its ongoing judicial review proceedings. Another Iraqi detainee will also not be on the plane after an upper tribunal injunction blocking his departure. It is believed that the government may try to respond to the appeals before the departure of the aircraft at around 9.30 pm.
The Rwanda government has hit back at “outrageous” criticism of plans to relocate migrants from Britain.
Yolande Makolo, a spokesman for the East African nation’s administration, said opponents are “missing the big picture” about efforts being made to improve the country’s standard of living and provide better opportunities to help their youth ” Don’t get lost in Europe”. It also provides safe haven for refugees.
Speaking to reporters in Kigali as the first deportation flight prepared to leave Britain, Makolo said: “The one thing that we want to know, as Africans, is that Africa should not be seen as such a place. Which creates problems and creates migrants and creates refugees.
“Of course we have conflicts, but we also have security and development and opportunities, just like in Rwanda.”
