The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has declared as illegal the British government’s contentious proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in Africa.

In Rwanda, individuals will be given the option to seek asylum within the country, return to their home country, or pursue asylum in a different nation, excluding the United Kingdom.

But Lord Reed, President of the court, says there is a “real risk” asylum seekers may be sent from Rwanda to the places they fled from, BBC reports.

Since being announced in 2022, the plan has been thwarted by legal challenges – the High Court ruled it lawful before the Court of Appeal overturned the decision.

The Supreme Court has now confirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The five-judge panel at the UK’s highest court unanimously sided with Court of Appeal judges that the policy was incompatible with Britain’s obligations under international treaties.

“We conclude that the Court of Appeal… was entitled to find that there are substantial grounds for believing that the removal of the claimants to Rwanda would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment,” they concluded.

The judges agreed with the lower court’s June verdict that Rwanda risked forcibly returning asylum seekers and refugees to a country where they could face persecution, in a move known as refoulement.

“Having been taken through the evidence we agree with their conclusion,” they added in their 56-page ruling.