Inhumane asylum pain 'is deliberate'

Ministers are deliberately making asylum seekers destitute, a committee of MPs and peers said in a human rights report today.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights said the system was a " confusing mess" that inflicted " unacceptable and inhumane treatment" on those seeking refuge in Britain.

In a hard-hitting report, it said asylum seekers were living in appalling circumstances because of government policy. It highlighted one case of a destitute Rwandan asylum seeker who suffered bowel cancer but was refused treatment by a hospital and could not even register with a GP.

Committee chairman and Labour MP Andrew Dismore said: "What we have seen and heard provides very hard evidence of appalling treatment that no human being should suffer."

The report said: "Many witnesses have told us that they are convinced that destitution is a deliberate tool in the operation of immigration policy.

The committee called for an end to detention for children and for the right to work for asylum seekers.

The Home Office said it would consider the recommendations.

Somalian criminal Ali Matan Ahmed, 37, is suing the Home Office for £150,000, claiming it has not deported him fast enough.