According to a report, Great Britain also wants to bring asylum seekers to Rwanda who were tortured in their homeland. Doctors from the organization Medical Justice found "clinical evidence" of torture in 14 of 17 migrants examined who are to be flown to the East African country, the BBC reported on Thursday. Six of them are said to have been victims of human trafficking. The report did not say which country they came from.

The British Home Office had already told the migrants that they would be flown out of Britain to Rwanda on the basis of a controversial agreement. A ministry spokesman denied that vulnerable people would be taken there. "We have always made it clear that nobody will be flown out for whom it is unsafe or inappropriate."

The plan envisages that asylum seekers from a wide variety of backgrounds, who often crossed the English Channel in rubber boats, should go to Rwanda. If they are entitled to asylum, they should stay there. Otherwise they face deportation to their countries of origin. The United Nations refugee agency sees the plan as a breach of international law. England's bishops spoke of a "disgrace to Great Britain".

The first scheduled flight to Rwanda was halted shortly before take-off by an injunction by the European Court of Human Rights in June. A thorough review by the British judiciary is due in London next week.