A chartered aircraft carrying former hostages from the Afghan airlines hijack is expected to leave Britain to bring them back to Afghanistan within the next few days, but refugee organisations argued yesterday that they should not be forced to return against their will.
It is understood that 37 of the 164 people who were on board the Ariana Airlines aircraft when it landed at Stansted airport on Monday morning have decided to return to Afghanistan.
As sections of the British media criticised the "lavish" treatment afforded to former hostages now seeking political asylum in Britain, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which chartered the aircraft on behalf of the British Foreign Office, insisted no one would be forced to return to Afghanistan. The aircraft will wait at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire until former hostages who have not yet claimed political asylum decide they want to return to Afghanistan. If the remaining former hostages do not reach a decision on whether they will return to Afghanistan or go to a third country today, the aircraft will be delayed while further police interviews take place. But Ms Diane Grammer, a spokeswoman for IOM, said its mandate was for a "voluntary return". At least 74 people are claiming political asylum, but that figure is expected to rise dramatically within the next few days. The Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, has said he will personally judge all the applications for asylum. Twenty-two people have now been arrested in connection with the hijacking and it is unlikely that there will be any further arrests.
Amnesty International has said it will be writing to Mr Straw to express its concern over the fate of the former hostages. "Although there's an understandable need to bring the hijackers to justice, the Home Secretary must not risk sending innocent men, women and children back to a terrible fate."