‘It’s so bad, like prison’: Detained asylum seeker due to be sent to Rwanda speaks out
Every two weeks Iranian asylum seeker Ahmed has to report to a Home Office immigration enforcement centre in Loughborough.
According to friends, the 35-year-old did not expect his appointment on Wednesday to be any different to the many times he had been there before.
But when Ahmed – which is not his real name – failed to return home to Derby, one friend grew increasingly concerned.
Iman, who is also 35 and from Iran, drove to the Loughborough office and heard from protesters outside that Ahmed had been detained.
He filmed as his friend and a small group of other men were led out of the building in handcuffs, put inside a van and driven away.
By then, Ahmed’s phone was no longer ringing. When they next heard from him, he was in a detention centre.
Ahmed is only able to speak for a short time on each call before the phone cuts out.
He told Sky News he was being held at an immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport.
With his friend translating, he said he was feeling “so bad… just feeling like [he’s] in prison, in jail”.
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Iman told Sky News he has cried over his friend’s situation
Ahmed’s phone has been taken away from him, according to his friends, and they’re struggling to keep in regular contact because the centre “just gives him a SIM card for a couple of minutes and then he needs to top up”.
Iman says witnessing his friend’s detention was “awful” and Ahmed is “so upset”.
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“I think nobody deserves that to happen,” he said, and added that Ahmed did not know he was at risk of being sent to Rwanda.
“He’s a nice guy, he doesn’t do any bad things actually. And when I saw him like that, I was so upset I started crying.”
The Home Office announced earlier this week that it had begun detaining people due to be sent to Rwanda.
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Taran Cheema, a trustee of asylum seeker charity Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity, said around 10 people she knew had been detained.
“My phone is ringing non-stop from people who are scared or who have now been detained,” she said. “They’ve just been told that they will be removed to Rwanda… [with] no timescale.”
Taran Cheema
Ms Cheema said all the charity workers she had spoken to had been “at the verge of tears for the last few weeks”.
“We don’t know how best to support people,” she added. “They are people who’ve done nothing wrong, they’ve committed no offences. They’ve been met with people banging down their doors, with detention.
“We are struggling to help people.”
UK drivers are “confused” by the country’s electric car transition, ministers are being warned.
Although most drivers are not hostile towards electric vehicles (EVs), many are confused about what changes are coming and when, according to new research from the AA.
In a survey of more than 14,000 AA members, 7% thought the government was banning the sale of used petrol and diesel cars.
Around a third thought manual EVs exist, despite them all being automatic.
More than one in five said they would never buy an EV.
The government’s plan for increasing the number of electric vehicles being driven in the UK focuses heavily on increasing the supply of the vehicles.
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What you can do to reach net zero
In 2024, at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK had to be zero-emission, which generally means pure electric.
Each year, those percentages will rise, reaching 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans in 2030.
Manufacturers will face fines of £15,000 per vehicle if electric vehicle sales fall short of 28% of total production this year.
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By 2035, all new cars and vans will be required to be fully zero emission, according to the Department for Transport.
Second-hand diesel and petrol cars will still be allowed to be sold after this date, and their fuel will still be available.
There are more EVs – but will people buy them?
In February, 25% of new cars were powered purely by battery and in January, they made up 21% of all new cars registered in the UK.
But despite the growth of electric sales, manufacturers continue to warn that the market will not support the growth required to hit government EV targets, and called for consumer incentives and the extension of tax breaks.
The AA suggested the government’s plan focuses on “supply but does little to encourage demand for EVs”.
It called on ministers to co-ordinate a public awareness campaign alongside the motoring industry which directly targets drivers who doubt the viability of EVs.
“Our message to government is more needs to be done to make EVs accessible for everyone,” said Jakob Pfaudler, AA chief executive.
Which? head of consumer rights Sue Davis said: “When it comes to making sustainable choices such as switching to an electric car, our research shows that people are often held back by high costs, complex choices or uncertainty.
“The government needs to provide the right information on electric vehicles and other sustainable choices so that people have the confidence to switch.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We’re investing over £2.3bn to help industry and consumers make a supported switch to EVs.
“This includes installing a public charge point every 28 minutes, keeping EV incentives in the company car tax regime to 2030, and extending 100% first-year allowances for zero-emission cars for another year.
“Second-hand EVs are also becoming cheaper than ever, with one in three available under £20,000 and 21 brand new models available for less than £30,000.
“We’re seeing growing consumer confidence as a result.”
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