Immigrants continue hunger strike

The action is in protest at processing time

More than 40 immigrants being held in Scotland enter the second day of a hunger strike in protest at the conditions in which they are being kept.

The action at Dungavel immigration detention centre in Lanarkshire is in protest at the length of time it is taking to resolve their cases.

The action is taking place in the blocks which house single men.

One of those involved said the hunger strikers intended to continue the strike until they were given assurances about their cases.

Drinking water

Eduardo Shanchez, from Peru, said: "We will continue to request to the Home Office a fair decision in our cases. We want both a fair and quick decision.

"I have been here 18 days. But it isn't fair for many people to wait in prison more than a year.

"This is prison, it feels like prison. This is not what I expected when I came to Britain."

The hunger strikers are drinking water, but they say they will continue to refuse set meals for as long as it takes to achieve their demands.

In Dungavel right now you have men who have committed no crime but yet they are locked up

Tommy Sheridan, MSP

Robins Qureshi, a human rights activists, believes it is appalling for asylum seekers to be kept in such prison-like conditions.

She added that she was particularly worried about the lack of medical care being offered and the fact some children are missing out on their schooling.

A spokesman for the Home Office confirmed that a number of asylum seekers have refused food.

He said: "A number of detainees have been refusing meals since this morning.

"There is good communication between the detainees and staff."

Dungavel, a former category C jail, was closed in 2000 as part of £13m cutbacks by the Scottish Executive.

The new centre houses up to 150 immigrants who are set to be deported. It opened in September last year.

Mr Sanchez, 35, said: "There is a shop which some of the detainees have been using to get things such as cigarettes, but we will try our best to refuse meals for as long as possible."

Tommy Sheridan: "Innocent men"

A spokesman for Premier Prison service - which manages the centre - said it would ensure the detainees received "the best possible medical support" should it be required.

Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan urged the Home Office to take immediate action.

"In Dungavel right now you have men who have committed no crime but yet they are locked up," he said.

"I don't blame them for going stir crazy and for trying to draw attention to their plight by taking part in a hunger strike.

"The Home Office has to react to this. It is taking too long to deliberate on these cases.

"These are innocent men who should not be locked up in the first place."