Detainees continue hunger strike

Campsfield was converted to a detention centre in 1993

About 46 detainees at an Oxfordshire immigration centre have continued a hunger strike, the Home Office said.

It was initially claimed 70 people were protesting at the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre.

Thirteen Iraqi Kurds began fasting on Saturday in protest against deportation and reports an Iraqi man killed himself after being deported from the UK.

The Home Office said the situation was "under control" and no-one had collapsed from lack of food.

The BBC has learned about 46 people refused their evening meal on Wednesday.

Some of the hunger-strikers are also protesting against conditions at the centre.

Earlier, Algerian detainee and Aston University student, Redouane Messaoudi, 32, told BBC News he would starve for as long as it took.

I have been working so hard to manage my life between the family and studies Redouane Messaoudi Detainee

He said he came to the UK nearly 10 years ago and is married to a British woman, and lives with her and two young children in Birmingham.

"I am at university, I've paid so much money, I have been working so hard to manage my life between the family and studies," he said.

Dashty Jamal, general secretary of the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, said the detainees were "victims of war and violence" in Iraq.

"They are not a criminal, they are civilians," he said.

"They arrived in this country because they didn't have any other choice."

Campsfield House, which holds some 200 asylum seekers and foreign prisoners, has been the subject of a campaign to close it.

We are committed to removing those who have no legal basis to stay in the UK UK Border Agency

The Campaign to Close Campsfield group said other detainees joined the strike in protest over conditions at the centre, where they said they were being "treated like animals".

The GEO Group, which runs the site for the government, declined to comment.

The Home Office has denied that a hunger striker had reportedly collapsed and received medical treatment but said a detainee had "taken medical advice from an on-site 24-hour doctor".

"We cannot comment on individual cases," said a Home Office spokeswoman.

"We would always ensure individuals received medical treatment as and when necessary and we are taking steps to resolve this situation as quickly as possible."