London - Home Office ministers are being urged to suspend the deportation of a group of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers because of the increasing violence against members of the opposition there.
Mr Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Baroness Williams and Lord Avebury have identified seven individuals who they believe face persecution or worse if their planned removal goes ahead.
But while the Home Office accepts that the human-rights situation in Zimbabwe is worsening in the run-up to April's presidential election, Lord Rooker, the Home Office minister, is refusing to intervene. In a letter on Monday to Lord Avebury, he said: "I do not accept that the situation is so serious that it requires suspension of removals."