BBC TODAY PROGRAMME Zimbabwean Asylum Seekers Home Office ministers have been accused by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of letting down Zimbabwean refugees who have fled to Britain in fear of persecution at home. With tension high in Zimbabwe in the run-up to the presidential election in March, several members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been killed by government supporters. Despite this, Zimbabwean opposition members have had their applications for political asylum here rejected. Gerald Muketiwa, a supporter of the MDC, was deported from Britain last month. He told the Today Programme how he had been picked up by the security services on his arrival in Harare. After he had been interrogated, and fearing for his life, he escaped through a police station window. He is now in a neighbouring country and is applying for political asylum in Canada. Another Zimbabwean - who wanted to remain anonymous - but is currently living at the Tinsley House detention centre near Gatwick airport, has had his application for asylum rejected and was due to be deported on New Year's Eve. Although his deportation has been temporarily suspended, he fears that as a member of the MDC he will be beaten and persecuted if he returns to Zimbabwe - "I left home because I was being persecuted because of my political opinions…I know that if am I to be returned home it is imminent death." The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to halt the deportation of people to Zimbabwe until further notice. Baroness Williams of Crosby, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords accused the Government of acting illegally - in breach of the UN Convention on Refugees. She said, "It is clearly now not safe for people with any record of political party activity to go back to Zimbabwe. The Government must suspend deportations until the Commonwealth Heads of Government agree that normality has returned and people can live in Zimbabwe in safety and freedom." Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin told us that the Government should offer a safe-haven to dissident Zimbabweans - "The general principle is that if people are genuinely refugees…then we grant them asylum and clearly people in this condition are awfully likely to be persecuted." The Home Office has refused to put up a minister for comment, but did provide the Today Programme with a statement saying that "All asylum decisions are open to appeal and only when the appeal is rejected by the independent adjudicators are the applicants removed from the UK. All asylum decisions are made on the basis of information concerning the particular case available at the time and on the basis of information available about the country of origin." Their statement also noted that "Improvements or deterioration in the circumstances of the country of origin are monitored closely and the policy in relation to that country is kept under review at all times." Back to Reports Index Page