A GROUP of 34 failed asylum seekers, which included 12 children and one Irish citizen child, were subjected to “inhumane and degrading treatment” by immigration officers, the Irish Refugee Council has claimed.
The council yesterday published details of interviews it conducted with the group, which was involved in a botched deportation flight last week. It called on Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to halt all deportations pending an independent review of the State’s deportation procedures.
The Nigerian asylum seekers were flown to Athens on a flight chartered by the EU agency Frontex last Wednesday where the plane developed engine trouble. They subsequently returned to Dublin on scheduled flights a day later.
The council said it had first-hand testimonies of the harsh treatment of women and children on the flight, including the handcuffing of one mother of two children for more than 24 hours.
It alleged officers used restraints on her chest and legs, and that she was sedated causing distress to her children, one of whom is an Irish citizen.
“We would suggest that this is prima facie evidence of an assault which requires proper investigation by an independent person or body,” said the council in a letter to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern. It said a formal complaint had also been lodged with the Garda Ombudsman Commission.
The council gave examples of other treatment which it says could contravene the European Convention on Human Rights:
* People were not allowed to close the door of a toilet on the plane when they used it;
* Children had to use bottles when urinating;
* During 14 hours at Athens airport there was little access to refreshments, in contrast to the availability of food for the 45 immigration officers on the plane;
* On return to Dublin the asylum seekers were accommodated at a reception centre, where there was no running water for five days.
* A Department of Justice spokesman said it was unfortunate that in this incident the plane had developed a technical fault. But he said this was not a reason for putting the State’s deportation process “through the shredder”.