A GROUND-BREAKING report has been produced by a North-East human rights charity which it claims contains compelling new evidence that failed asylum seekers endure rape, torture and imprisonment after being sent back to an African country blighted by war and corruption.

Justice First is recommending that until there is a review of Government policy that it is safe to return people to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), no further removals should be carried out.

Unsafe Return traces deported asylum seekers, including ten adults and nine children, who were sent home to the Congo between 2006 and 2011 after settling in the Tees Valley.

Catherine Ramos, from Justice First, who compiled the report, said of the ten adults removed, nine have been in contact with friends in the Tees Valley and all allege that they have been subjected to ill-treatment after their arrival in the capital Kinshasa, while the tenth had not been heard of since the day they were removed in 2008.

Mrs Ramos travelled to DRC in September to record the testimonies of the victims.

“I found that people are very frightened, even if they had been returned four years ago,” she said.

“Some were in hiding, yet they wanted to speak out.

They felt they had been a sacrifice and they did not want what they had suffered to happen to anyone else.”

Launching the report at Stockton Central Library yesterday, she said they had been arrested either at the airport after landing in their home country or at their homes.

Catalogues of torture endured included interrogation, electric shock treatment and physical and sexual abuse of men and women.

“Our conclusion is that it is not safe to remove people as there is no effective monitoring about what happens to people when they are sent back,” she said.

“The decisions to remove people since 2006 have been By Lucy Richardson lucy.richardson@nne.co.uk flawed decisions, which have resulted in people being returned to inhumane and derogatory treatment.”

Justice First said it was working with about 20 asylum seekers from DRC in the Tees Valley, some of whom have been waiting for more than ten years to hear their fate.

The UK Border Agency said: “The UK adheres to the European Convention on Human Rights, which prevents us from sending anyone to a country where there is a real risk that they will be exposed to torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”