Israel to release dozens of jailed asylum seekers after deportation plan nixed

Israel will release 58 African asylum seekers from the Saharonim Prison this afternoon after a controversial deportation plan that would have seen them forcibly expelled to unnamed third countries fell apart.

The asylum seekers had been imprisoned for refusing to be “voluntarily” deported to Rwanda by April 1 under a government plan that was partially invalidated by the High Court in March.

After Rwanda categorically denied the existence of a deal with Israel, the Population, Immigration and Border Authority said it would release the 58 from the detention center in the Negev.

Earlier this afternoon, the state told the High Court of Justice that it was still working to broker a deportation deal with another unnamed country (widely reported to be Uganda). If that deal will also fall through or is rejected by the attorney general, the government said it would release the remaining 270 asylum seekers held at Saharonim.