[JURIST] The UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) [official website] on Wednesday cleared the way for the UK to resume deportations of Zimbabwe citizens seeking asylum in Britain, overturning a previous decision [JURIST report] that all Zimbabwe citizens face a "real risk of serious harm" if deported. The AIT determination [DOC text] holds that "[a] failed asylum seeker returned involuntarily to Zimbabwe does not face on return a real risk of being subjected to persecution or serious ill-treatment on that account alone."

The AIT ruled last October that although the Zimbabwe man who appealed his deportation order had been "fraudulent" and "deliberately dishonest" with British authorities in paperwork supporting his asylum claim, the risk that the Zimbabwe government under President Robert Mugabe would treat all deportees as spies or traitors subject to criminal sanctions warranted a halt of all deportations to Zimbabwe. UK officials argued that the tribunal's decision created a large hole [BBC report] in Britain's asylum policy for Zimbabwe [IND backgrounder], and in April, the High Court ordered the AIT to review the determination [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.