The High Court of Justice and The Court of Appeal in London are hearing last-minute legal challenges to a new British government policy, under which asylum seekers are to be deported to Rwanda while their applications are being processed.
The first flight to the Central African country is expected to leave on Tuesday while refugee charity, Asylum Aid, is presenting arguments before the High Court on Monday.
The group insists that the government’s scheme, which gives asylum seekers a week to obtain legal counsel and to present their case to avoid deportation, is unjust.
Objections to the policy are also being mounted in the Court of Appeal by two more human rights groups and a trade union. The last-ditch attempts come shortly after a judge refused activists’ requests for an injunction to block the first deportation flight. The High Court sided with the government, arguing that there was a “material public interest” to allow the scheme to go ahead.