Five failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe went on a hunger strike on Monday evening at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedford in the UK. They have vowed to remain on hunger strike until their demands are met.

The five, Maud Lennard Kadango, Faina Manuel Pondesi, Zandile Sibanda, Rose Phekani and Pauline Chitekeshe sent a petition to the Home Office on Sunday 'demanding' that they be released from the holding centre.

Speaking to Newsreel on Tuesday one of the detainees, Maud Kadango, complained that they did not receive adequate legal representation during the fast track process under which their applications for political asylum were considered.

Kadango said their problem was that when they fled Zimbabwe they used Malawian passports to try and beat the British immigration system. She said all five of them are bona-fide Zimbabwean nationals who have no family, friends, or support networks in Malawi where the Home Office is planning to send them.

'Our greatest fear is that when we get to Malawi the government there will pass us into the hands of the Zimbabwean authorities. We have been informed by the MDC in the UK that both the South African and the Malawian governments are sending Zimbabweans who are deported from the UK back to Zimbabwe,' Kadango said.

Kadango said they were all terrified at the prospect of being deported. The Home Office last month sent them removal letters stating that

their asylum applications were refused and that the Secretary of State did not accept their claims.

'With regard to your specific fears of the country situation in Zimbabwe, your concerns are noted and supported by objective evidence. The Home Office published policy means that removals of failed asylum seekers are not enforced to Zimbabwe and so I would like to allay your fears of being forcibly returned. However, as the Home Office plans to return you to Malawi, the country (Malawi) situation has no bearing in your situation,' the Home Office letter said.