Flight set to take asylum-seekers from UK to Rwanda halted after court ruling

A flight that would have taken asylum-seekers from the United Kingdom (U.K.) to Rwanda on Tuesday night was halted before it took off after an eleventh-hour judgment from a European court.

The European Court of Human Rights published a decision hours before the flight was due to depart, and the seven passengers were removed from the aircraft, the BBC first reported.

The U.K.’s controversial partnership with Rwanda, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, aims to send immigrants who enter Britain illegally to the East African country while their asylum claims are assessed.

The decision by the European Court of Human Rights, an international court that is unaffiliated with the European Union, found that one of the passengers on the flight was at “risk of irreversible harm” if deported to Rwanda, contradicting an earlier ruling by a U.K. court that found no risk.

The initial passenger count of 200 dwindled down to seven after many asylum-seekers were granted by courts to stay in the U.K. because of risk of some kind in Rwanda.

Johnson argues that the deportation plan, which his opponents have called unethical, will dissuade asylum-seekers from traveling to Britain in an unsafe manner and from making deals with smugglers to get them into the U.K.

“Vile people smugglers are abusing the vulnerable and turning the Channel into a watery graveyard,” said Johnson in support of his plan in April.

Asylum-seekers have often crossed the English Channel using unsafe equipment, including the 27 who died in November when their boat was upended.

Home Secretary Priti Patel responded to the interference with the U.K.-Rwanda plan by saying that “preparation for the next flight begins now.”