Twenty-five Indian asylum-seekers imprisoned in Limerick since last weekend were expected to have their period of detention extended last night.
Officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau were due to bring the men to Limerick District Court last night to seek to have them detained for up to 10 days. The men were by held by gardaí last Saturday after disembarking in Shannon Airport on an Aeroflot flight from the Russian capital, Moscow, bound for Cuba.
After the aircraft made a refuelling stop at Shannon, the group refused to continue on to the Cuban capital, Havana. They were denied "leave to land" by airport immigration officials because they had no visas to enter Ireland.
The men were taken to Limerick Prison, where they yesterday lodged applications to remain in the Republic as refugees fleeing persecution.
Last night's court application was brought under the Refugee Act 1996, which provides for the detention of asylum-seekers for up to 10 days if an immigration officer reasonably suspects that they "pose a threat to national security or public order in the State".
Earlier yesterday, the head of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, Chief Supt Martin Donnellan, said the men had breached security cordons in the airport and claimed that there was a bomb on the aircraft.
Members of a Limerick asylum-seeker organisation spoke yesterday by phone with one of the men, Mr Samit Ranjan Maitra, a Hindu from Calcutta who speaks English. Mr Ed Horgan, from the Dorus Luimní group, said one of the men claimed he was injured by officials at the airport and had sought yesterday to be examined by a doctor.
According to Mr Horgan, the group is made up of 24 Sikhs. Mr Horgan said the men denied claiming that there was a bomb on the aircraft.
He said he understood that representatives from the Indian embassy may visit the men today, although the group had not requested this. "They are being treated as criminals by being in jail. We want them to be released. They aren't a danger to anybody."
Because the men have claimed asylum, they will be allowed to remain in Ireland while their cases are processed.
If they remain detained in Limerick Prison, their asylum applications will be fast-tracked.
The fact that they did not have valid visas when they were detained at Shannon Airport does not affect their rights to seek to remain here permanently as refugees fleeing persecution. People who claim refugee status are called asylum-seekers while their cases are being heard.
Very few Indian nationals have claimed asylum in Ireland in recent years.