UK: Zimbabwean Yarls Wood hunger strikers taken to hospital

Two of the six Zimbabwean hunger strikers at Yarls Wood have been taken to Bedford Hospital (in the UK) after refusing meals for a month. Thando Mpofu, 28, and Amanda Sibiya, 21, were admitted on Monday. They are protesting against threatened deportation from the detention centre near Clapham. A doctor's report said that the women were at high risk of suffering from a mild form of brain damage – or Wernicke's encephalopathy – unless re-feeding was carried out at hospital. Four other women refugees are still reported to be refusing meals at Yarls Wood. Miss Mpofu claimed at the beginning of their strike that they faced torture or death at the hands of the Zimbabwean government if they were forced home.