Exclusive: Whitehall gives war criminals safe haven in Britain

The suspects, who may have taken part in civilian massacres, mass rape, torture and a range of other crimes, were only identified when they applied to become British citizens.

To have applied for citizenship, they must have lived in the country for at least five years – and already been granted the right to live in the UK. Suspected war criminals would therefore have been entitled to the same rights as UK residents, including the right to claim state benefits.

A spokesman said officials were now drawing up a policy on possible deportation in such cases, but also admitted the policy would be based on utilising powers home secretaries have held since 1971.

Immigration Minister Damian Green yesterday told the Yorkshire Post the new coalition government was weighing up whether a change in the law was necessary or whether greater implementation of existing powers was the answer.

The Labour government's failure to act was discovered after a Freedom of Information request asked how many suspected war criminals had been refused applications for British citizenship in 2008 and 2009.

A total of 104 were turned down during that time, nine of whom have been referred to the Metropolitan Police for further investigation. But the Home Office admitted no further action had been taken against the remaining 95, all of whom could have faced deportation proceedings.

Referring to the planned new policy, the Home Office spokesman said: "It will remain open to the UK Border Agency to apply such a policy when finalised and implemented to those who have already been refused citizenship on the grounds of involvement in war criminality.

"Therefore, this policy would also potentially capture those refused before inception of that policy, including those refused citizenship in 2008 and 2009."

Deportation can be difficult because human rights laws block anyone from being returned to their home country if they would face persecution. But the lack of effort by the Government appears to belie claims the country was not a safe haven for war criminals and also places a question mark against previous official claims that "immigration action" had been taken against suspected war criminals.

Refusing citizenship could be classed as 'action' but would be otherwise relatively meaningless in the 95 cases identified from 2008 and 2009 alone.

War crimes campaigner Lord Carlile said the Home Office approach needed to be overhauled, possibly with the introduction of an independent commission to bolster the gathering of evidence. "It's totally unacceptable that there should be large numbers of people in this country whose presence is contrary to our national interest," he added. "A lot of these cases are historical but plainly the screening should be strengthened.

"It's very important for public confidence, otherwise people are understandably angry at why we are paying for and sheltering a large number of people whose presence is totally against the public good."

The Liberal Democrat peer, vice-chairman of the all-party Parliamentary Group on Genocide Prevention, said suspects should ideally be prosecuted for their offences, with deportation a second-best option, if it did not infringe their human rights.

But he added: "However, I do not accept we are doing enough to try and ensure people can be sent to other countries."

Crossbench peer Baroness D'Souza, who helped Lord Carlile steer a recent tightening of war crimes law through Parliament, expressed "surprise" that less than 10 per cent of the 104 identified suspects had been referred to the police.

She said: "The law as amended specifically enables the UK authorities to investigate with a view to prosecuting before UK courts suspects accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is very important that this law is now used."

The Aegis Trust, which campaigns on war crimes globally, said suspects should be tried for their crimes if possible but also raised the prospect of suspects being prosecuted for immigration offences as an alternative. Failing to provide truthful information when applying for asylum or citizenship is an offence.

The Home Office acknowledged such an approach was possible but prosecution for war crimes or potential deportation, if possible, remained the preferred policy. A spokesman insisted that denial of citizenship was a sanction in itself.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "The new Government is determined to ensure that the UK does not become a safe haven for war criminals which is why we are looking at whether we need to change the law, or simply to implement the laws passed by previous governments."