UK faith leaders condemn 'heartless' threat to deport Afghan airman to Rwanda

Britain's faith leaders have condemned the government's "cruel and heartless" threat to send an Afghan war veteran to Rwanda pleading with Rishi Sunak to rethink his asylum policy

- ADAM FORREST, HOLLY BANCROFT

Top religious figures from the country's major faiths have backed The Independent's campaign to stop those who fought alongside British and US forces against the Taliban from being deported. Senior clergy, imams, rabbis and other clerics have spoken out following the Archbishop of Canterbury's scathing criticism of Mr Sunak's small boats crackdown as "morally unacceptable and politically impractical".

Faith leaders shared their outrage that the Home Office has told a former Afghan Air Force pilot that he could be sent to Rwanda because he came to Britain in a small boat across the Channel.

The Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, said there was a "moral duty" to give him safety. "The government has been woeful in its commitment to Afghan refugees and it is time for them to do the decent thing and reverse this cruel, heartless decision." The Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, said this plight of the war veteran illustrated "the bind that the government have created for themselves" by treating all small boat arrivals as criminals. "Surely there should be flexibility," said the Right Reverend Butler, who said the pilot should be allowed to remain under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap). "I would assume given his past service would immediately be welcomed to remain and rebuild his life here."

Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, said: “It is particularly cruel to threaten to send people who have helped us in good faith to get a better government in Afghanistan. It shows us in a very, very bad light.”

The Sikh leader went further in attacking the “callousness” of the government’s asylum policy – saying Mr Sunak and his home secretary Suella Braverman were attempting to separate “good refugees and bad refugees” by treating all small boat arrivals as illegal migrants.