Ten other Iraqi asylum-seekers were allowed entry to the Iraqi capital. Witnesses on the flight said the 10 men were given $100 (£60) each by the British embassy then left to fend for themselves in the Iraqi capital. In the past few weeks dozens of civilians have been killed by bomb blasts and violence on the streets of Baghdad.
The asylum flight, which also carried between 80 and 100 British security guards, was the first to return failed asylum-seekers to southern Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003.