Judge in Afghanistan ‘backstabbed’ by UK government’s refusal of sanctuary

Officials say man in hiding who helped prosecute terrorists does not meet relocation criteria, despite high court ruling in his favour

A senior judge who prosecuted terrorists and is now in hiding in Afghanistan feels “heartbroken, abandoned and backstabbed” by the British government for refusing to bring him to safety despite a high court ruling in his favour.

The high-profile judge, whom the Guardian is not naming for his safety, also received strong support from two former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation.

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Ukraine refugees flock to Germany after being put off by UK red tape

Ease of finding accommodation and work lures 10 times the number who have made it to Britain

When it became clear to Liliia Fomina that the war raging outside her hometown of Zaporizhzhia would continue not just for days, but months or even years, she decided that she wanted to flee to the UK. A sponsor in Windsor was found, and on 18 March the 29-year-old applied for a British visa for herself and her five-year-old son Lev.

The pair sheltered with friends of friends in a village near Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine, and waited: one week, two weeks, three weeks. By the time her visa finally came through, after almost a month of uncertainty, the lawyer had changed her mind.

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Priti Patel’s Rwanda asylum seeker plan faces first legal challenge

Charity Freedom from Torture says it has ‘serious concerns’ about lawfulness of policy

Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is facing its first legal challenge after a charity instructed lawyers to demand the disclosure of documents because of fears the policy is contrary to international law.

In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, which is expected to lead to a judicial review claim, the solicitors Leigh Day stated that the charity Freedom from Torture “has serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy”.

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‘Unsafe’ UK accommodation threatens asylum seekers’ health – report

Exclusive: poor healthcare and conditions at sites such as Napier worsen mental and physical illness, Doctors of the World says

Asylum seekers’ accommodation is “unsafe” due to inadequate healthcare, while poor living conditions are exacerbating or creating mental and physical health problems, according to a new report by Doctors of the World.

The charity’s research, published on Wednesday, details the barriers to medical care and medication for asylum seekers in initial accommodation across the UK.

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Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy withdrawn days before legal review

Government lawyers confirm Home Office plan to force small boats back to France has been abandoned

Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy has been officially withdrawn by the government days before a judicial review of the tactic was due to be heard in the high court.

The government’s legal department acknowledged in a letter on Sunday that the plan to try to force people in dinghies back to France has been abandoned after Boris Johnson’s announcement that the Royal Navy would take over operations in the Channel.

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UK gave sanctioned Russians ‘golden visas’ after first Ukraine invasion

Government accused of ‘shocking complacency’ over awards to seven Putin cronies


Seven Russians now under sanctions were awarded controversial “golden visas” by the UK after Vladimir Putin’s regime first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the government has admitted.

The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February amid the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as it prepared to broaden its occupation beyond Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

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Tory MPs ignore celebrity entreaties and back immigration bill

Only handful of rebels vote against government to support Lords amendments

The actor Juliet Stevenson has made an 11th-hour plea to Conservative MPs voting on the government’s controversial immigration bill on Wednesday to “be brave and vote with your heart, not with your party membership card”.

Stevenson has urged MPs who are backing the nationality and borders bill to instead back Lords amendments in support of refugees.

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No 10 goes into battle with archbishops over Rwanda asylum plan

Downing Street refuses to deny PM told MPs archbishops were being unfairly critical as church figures defend Justin Welby

Downing Street has gone into open battle with the Church of England over its condemnation of the Rwanda deportation scheme, with No 10 officials doubling down on Boris Johnson’s claim that archbishops were being unfairly critical.

The prime minister reportedly told Conservative MPs on Tuesday evening that senior clergy had criticised plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda more than they had condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This was not denied by No 10.

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Johnson’s ‘dishonest’ excuses over Partygate fine an insult to public, says Starmer – UK politics live, as it happened

Latest updates: the prime minister apologises for breaking Covid lockdown rules but Labour says the public ‘don’t believe a word he says’

Boris Johnson must have known parties were taking place in Downing Street in breach of lockdown rules, Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, told the Today programme this morning. Asked to justify Labour claims that Johnson was lying when he told MPs that the rules had always been followed and parties had not taken place, she replied:

The sheer number of parties going on at Number 10 on a regular basis make it perfectly clear to any reasonable person, let alone the person who made the rules, that those rules were being broken and they were being broken consciously.

The fact that Dominic Raab said that when he was in charge there weren’t any parties shows that people knew there were parties going on and he made sure that, when he was in charge of Number 10, when the prime minister was in hospital, that those sorts of things stopped, I think, again makes it clear.

Whatever means we take, the difficulty we will always have is that, since the 2019 election, the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority when there is a vote.

Unless Conservative MPs can look at their consciences and vote the right way, we are not going to get the sort of result that we should get.

The Stormer vehicle launches Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles which can be used to target planes and helicopters.

Boris Johnson is expected to speak to allies including the US president, Joe Biden, today to discuss western support for Ukraine as Russian forces focused on capturing the Donbas region.

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Priti Patel: Rwanda plan critics ‘fail to offer their own solutions’

UK home secretary attacks critics of plan to give unauthorised asylum seekers one-way tickets to African country

Priti Patel has defended plans to send unauthorised asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, saying critics of the scheme have failed to offer any alternative solution to the migration crisis.

The proposal, announced last week, has been widely condemned as inhumane, illegal, unworkable and prohibitively expensive. Critics have included Conservative MPs and peers, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and a former and the current archbishop of Canterbury, who said, in his Easter Sunday sermon, that the scheme “does not stand the judgment of God”.

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Priti Patel accused of misleading parliament over controversial borders bill

Questions raised over home secretary’s claim that new law would allow ‘safe and legal route’

Priti Patel is under pressure to apologise after being accused of misleading parliament over a central claim relating to her deeply controversial proposals to change immigration law.

The home secretary told MPs that the widely criticised nationality and borders bill would create new safe and legal routes to the UK for asylum seekers, suggesting that new routes would ensure that people no longer need to risk their lives trying to reach the UK.

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Priti Patel could face Home Office mutiny over Rwanda asylum plan

Unions say civil servants could stage mass walkouts after home secretary overruled their concerns

Priti Patel could face a Home Office mutiny over plans to process migrants 5,000 miles away in Rwanda after overruling officials to push through the scheme.

The home secretary issued a rare ministerial direction to overrule concerns of civil servants about whether the scheme would deliver value for money.

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Boat capsizes off Libya, leaving 35 people dead or presumed dead

Wooden vessel launched from Sabratha, a major departure point for Europe, says UN migration agency

A boat carrying 35 people has capsized off the Libyan coast, , the UN migration agency has said.

The incident took place on Friday off the western Libyan city of Sabratha, a major launching point for the mainly African people making the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean, said the International Organization for Migration.

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UN refugee agency condemns Boris Johnson’s Rwanda asylum plan

Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner at UNHCR, says plan is ‘symbolic gesture’ that will prove unworkable

The UN’s refugee agency has condemned Boris Johnson’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as “a symbolic gesture” that will be unworkable in practice.

Speaking to the Guardian, Gillian Triggs, the assistant high commissioner at the UNHCR, said the proposed arrangement would only accommodate a few hundred people a year, making it extremely expensive as well as illegal and discriminatory.

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Sending UK asylum seekers to Rwanda will save money, claims minister

Claim about long-term benefits disputed by MP Andrew Mitchell who describes reported cost of £30,000 a person as ‘eye-watering’

Britain will save money in the “longer term” by sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, a minister has said after the reported cost of about £30,000 a person was described as “eye-watering”.

Defending the decision to fly out many of those who arrive on the Kent coast to a country more than 4,000 miles away, the Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said it would “crush” the business model of people smugglers.

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UK asylum seekers to be housed in no-frills hostel in Rwandan capital

People fleeing persecution to be taken to stripped-back Hope guest house in Kigali, which has only 50 rooms

Asylum seekers flown to Rwanda by the British government will be put up in a no-frills hostel a mile away from Kigali city centre.

People fleeing war and persecution will be taken to a guest house, built in 2014, which only has 50 rooms available, although there are plans to expand the facility.

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UK Rwanda plan for asylum seekers decried as inhumane, expensive and deadly

Politicians, legal experts and refugee groups condemn Johnson’s plan to ‘offshore’ Channel crossing crisis

Boris Johnson’s plans to send unauthorised asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda have been roundly condemned amid warnings that it will be challenged in the courts and could result in further deaths in the Channel.

After the prime minister outlined plans to hand an initial down-payment of £120m to the Rwandan government in the hope that it will accept “tens of thousands” of people, politicians and refugee groups condemned the move as inhumane, unworkable and a waste of public money.

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What are the Tories trying to achieve by offshoring asylum seekers?

Analysis: Tories keen to shore up support with tough immigration policy but there are concerns about the detail

When Boris Johnson’s position was at its most precarious two months ago, he had to convince Conservative MPs sticking by his side was worth it.

A plan was devised – dubbed “Operation Red Meat” – to give those losing faith in his administration some belief that there was a higher purpose than just defending their leader through scandal after scandal.

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‘Inhumane’: some Tories criticise plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

Small but vehement group have already expressed doubts about government’s outsourcing plan

Conservative opposition to plans to send asylum seekers for processing in Rwanda is likely to be led by a small but vehement group of peers and MPs who have already criticised outsourcing the issue overseas.

The House of Lords has now twice amended the nationality and borders bill to block the idea of non-UK processing for asylum claims. However, these government defeats were largely caused by Tory members staying away, giving opposition and crossbench peers a majority.

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Rwandan opposition criticises deal to accept UK’s asylum seekers

UK accused of shifting international obligations and Rwanda of ignoring issues causing its own refugees

Opposition politicians in Rwanda have criticised its agreement to accept thousands of unauthorised asylum seekers flown from the UK, saying wealthy western countries should “own up to international obligations on the migration issues”.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the leader of DALFA-Umurinzi, said officials in Rwanda should focus on solving its political and social issues that made Rwandans seek refuge abroad before offering “to host refugees or migrants from other countries”.

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