The Home Office’s first flight to Rwanda under the home secretary’s offshoring plan is facing a second injunction which aims to stop it from taking off.
A refugee charity, Asylum Aid, has applied for an urgent interim injunction preventing any flights from leaving, including the first one, scheduled on Tuesday, until after its application for a judicial review can be heard.
The application was made on Thursday by the law firm Leigh Day on behalf of the charity.
An emergency high court hearing of a separate legal challenge to Priti Patel’s offshoring policy is due to be held at 10.30am on Friday. Asylum Aid’s application will be heard on Monday.
The charity argues that the government’s rapid process for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful as it is inconsistent with the statutory powers conferred by parliament, procedurally unfair and constitutes a serious impediment to access to justice.
The application is being supported by the charity Freedom from Torture.
Asylum seekers due to be flown to Rwanda on Tuesday could be released and tagged if a legal challenge causes their flight to be postponed.
Home Office staff are aware that they cannot detain people indefinitely if they are not sent to the east African country in the first planned flight.
Government sources confirmed there was a “healthy chance” that the first challenge would be successful, causing the chartered flight to be postponed. If that happens, officials are understood to be prepared to release and tag those currently detained.
Decisions would be made after taking into consideration the Hardial Singh principles, which reference a legal precedent that sets limits on the Home Office’s immigration detention powers.
Friday’s hearing comes after a judicial review was launched on Wednesday by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the charity Care4Calais and the pressure group Detention Action, along with four asylum seekers facing removal to Rwanda.
The case will challenge aspects of the policy, which was unveiled by Boris Johnson, including Patel’s right to carry out such removals, the rationality of Patel’s claim that Rwanda is generally a “safe third country”, the adequacy of provision for malaria prevention in Rwanda, and whether it complies with the Human Rights Act.
Also, officials are refusing to rule out sending Afghans to Rwanda on Tuesday, despite the deteriorating political situation in their home country.
Existing government schemes to assist refugees from Afghanistan – the Afghan relocations and assistance policy, launched in April 2021, and the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme – have proved difficult to access, MPs have been told.
It was also reported on Wednesday that Zambia may be the next country to take UK asylum seekers.
The Home Office is refusing to say how many people it plans to send to Rwanda on Tuesday. Officials have refused to deny claims that 130 people could be removed next week, but the Guardian has been told the number is around 30.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have been clear from the start that we expected legal challenges however we are determined to deliver this new partnership.
“We have now issued formal directions to the first group of people due to be relocated to Rwanda later this month. This marks a critical step towards operationalising the policy, which fully complies with international and national law.
“Currently all those in scope for the first flight to Rwanda are in detention – we have not ruled out the use of GPS tagging to monitor individuals if they are released from immigration detention.
“The UK has made one of the largest commitments to support Afghan refugees of any country, and will resettle up to 20,000 Afghan women, children and others at risk – there is simply no need for them to come to the UK through unsafe routes.”
Meanwhile, the artists Tracy Emin and Antony Gormley, the football presenter Gary Lineker, the musician Akala and the Cure frontman, Robert Smith, are among more than 70 public figures who have written to airlines chartered by the Home Office for deportation flights and urged them not to get involved with transporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The airlines targeted are Titan Airways, Privilege Style and Iberojet.
In a campaign by the charity Freedom from Torture, 15,000 letters of protest have been sent by members of the public to airlines believed to be involved in the Rwanda scheme.
Kolbassia Haoussou, the director of survivor empowerment at Freedom from Torture, said: “Make no mistake, any airline that collaborates with removing refugees to Rwanda will be forever tarred by their association with this cruel and dangerous policy – and likely in violation of the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. We urge these airlines to stand on the right side of history and rule themselves out of removal flights.”
The airlines have been approached for comment. Titan Airways told the Guardian it would not be commenting.
A petition calling for the Rwanda flight to be halted has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.
• This article was amended on 10 June 2022. A previous version cited a petition “started by a Syrian doctor, Hamza Al Khatib” that had attracted almost 1m signatures. This petition was about the war in Syria, not the Rwanda deportation flights. The text, and weblink, has been changed to refer to a more relevant petition.
