Asylum seekers who fell short of ‘torture’ status may get compensation

 Dozens of torture victims could claim compensation from the Government after the High Court ruled that they had been wrongly held at immigration detention centres.

Mr Justice Ouseley upheld a legal challenge by seven detainees after hearing they were locked up during the asylum process, despite doctors submitting to the Home Office evidence of torture and ill-treatment.

The charity Medical Justice had accused the Home Office of imposing a new and overly narrow definition of torture. Under Home Office policy asylum seekers who had been tortured should only be detained in exceptional circumstances. But the court heard the Government changed its definition of torture from acts committed by any individual or group to only those carried out by official state agents or terrorist groups holding territory.

The charity argued the definition meant victims who had been subjected to sexual violence, rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation were no longer protected as victims of torture, along with victims of drugs traffickers and those ill-treated because of their race, religion or sexuality.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The main focus relates to the definition of torture. The court did not find against the adults at risk policy as a whole.”