Torture survivors were wrongly imprisoned – but that’s no surprise with Amber Rudd

Yarls Wood immigration Removal centre in Clapham near Bedford in Bedfordshire [Image: Sean Dempsey/PA Images via Getty Images].

The Home Office does not intend to appeal against the court’s decision – but what does that mean, with Amber ‘Lock-Em-Up’ Rudd in charge?

Ms Rudd has already come under fire for failing to release an asylum-seeker who had been tortured in a Libyan prison – a valid definition of torture, even under the Home Office’s now-discredited Adults At Risk policy.

A court order was made for Ms Rudd to release that person but she ignored it. The Home Office then failed to provide written reasons for failing to comply with the order.

So – moving on to the current case – why would anybody believe the Home Office would act on a High Court ruling, even after saying it would not challenge the verdict?

Torture survivors have won a High Court challenge against the Home Office over policy which saw asylum seekers fleeing persecution wrongly locked up in immigration detention centres.

Mr Justice Ouseley ruled that the Home Office policy “lacked a rational or evidence basis” and wrongly allowed many who had been tortured overseas to be imprisoned.

The Adults at Risk policy, introduced in September 2016, had redefined torture to refer to violence carried out only by official state agents.

The charity Medical Justice and seven former immigration centre detainees argued the legal definition was too narrow.

The detainees included victims of sexual and physical abuse, trafficking, sexual exploitation, homophobic attacks, a child abused by loan sharks and a young man kidnapped and abused by the Taliban. The Home Office’s narrowed definition of torture excluded the seven from being recognised as torture victims.

The judge stated that the definition of “torture” intended for use in the policy would require medical practitioners to “reach conclusions on political issues which they cannot rationally be asked to reach”.

Source: Torture Survivors Were Wrongly Imprisoned, High Court Rules


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3 Comments

  1. Dez October 10, 2017 at 2:26 pm - Reply

    Now loads of compensation to follow this hasty thoughtless wrong decision from some nerd in Government backed of course by the brainless one Amber Crudd. Where do they find these one celled reptiles and put them in charge of human beings.

  2. Barry Davies October 10, 2017 at 2:27 pm - Reply

    The Adults at Risk policy, introduced in September 2016, had redefined torture to refer to violence carried out only by official state agents. So presumably the action of the eu to support the Spanish government against the Catalans means we will soon be seeing a charge of torture brought against the Spanish Government and eu commission, no thought not.

    This ruling is flawed in that it means any illegal migrant can claim they have been tortured, with such wide definition of torture it is hard to say they have not, and remain illegally in the country. Clearly the ability to imprison anyone suspected of being here illegally should not have been removed because now there is no means of being able to know where they are.

  3. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) October 10, 2017 at 2:40 pm - Reply

    Do you really think that anyone enjoying seeing foxes being torn to shreds would care?

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