The British Border and Immigration Agency is planning to deport hundreds of Tamils, reported The Independent.

Three charter planes are reported to have been hired by the British government, with two scheduled to depart Wednesday and one on Thursday next week.

There have been several instances of Tamil deportees being tortured on their arrival in Sri Lanka.

The newspaper reported that although there are criminals and visa overstayers, several of those deported are failed asylum seekers.

The Independent said it has seen a new report which details the cases of 24 individuals from Sri Lanka who returned voluntarily were tortured and interrogated.

David Mepham, the UK head of Human Rights Watch, said the organisation had also documented several cases of tortured Tamils.

"Given the very serious risk of torture facing many Tamils returned from this country, the UK should immediately impose a moratorium on these returns, pending a thorough review of UK policy in this area and the introduction of new risk assessment guidelines."

Freedom from Torture’s CEO Keith Best also urged for a stop in the deportations.

"The research shows that the Sri Lankan authorities will stop at nothing to extract intelligence about the activities of the Tamil community in the UK,"

"Forcing Tamils back... in these circumstances is a highly risky affair."

A UK Border Agency spokesman said,

"The UK has a proud record of offering sanctuary to those who need it, but people who do not have a genuine need for our protection must return to their home country.

"We only undertake returns to Sri Lanka when we are satisfied that the individual has no international protection needs. The European court of human rights has ruled that not all Tamil asylum seekers require protection.”