ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Britain must not be a “sanctuary” for people suspected of genocide, torture and other serious crimes abroad, a senior MP warned today.

Keith Vaz urged Home Secretary Theresa May to “justify” why 49 individuals accused of such crimes and reportedly living in Britain have not been handed to international courts.

It is believed the suspects have been allowed to remain in the UK because deporting them to their home country may put them at risk of harm or death.

But Mr Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, told the Standard: “I’m amazed at this figure. It seems bizarre Britain should be giving sanctuary to those accused of some of the most serious crimes a person can commit.”

He stressed human rights legislation should not be used to avoid justice.

Related stories





The suspected offenders are understood to have been allowed to stay in the UK, after being refused asylum, on “restricted” leave to remain. A suspected former Taliban deputy commander accused of attacking Nato forces in Afghanistan, which he denies, has benefited from such treatment and has been living in Britain since 2007.

It was not clear if he is one of the 49 mentioned in a freedom of information request for the BBC. Other suspects in the UK include people from Iraq, Sri Lanka, Eritrea and Zimbabwe.

Since a new monitoring system was brought in three years ago, one person has reportedly been deported.

The Home Office said: “The Government is determined the UK should not become a refuge for those who commit crimes against humanity. Those accused of these crimes should be put on trial in their home country and we will always seek to return them to face justice.”

But Christopher Cole, chairman of the Law Society’s immigration law committee, said individuals on restric- ted leave were in a “legal limbo”.

He added: “Unless there is a fundamental change in countries of origin there is no realistic prospect of many of these people being removed.”