The Home Office has admitted that lesbian, gay and bisexual refugees could be persecuted if sent to Rwanda – but still plans to fly them 4,000 miles to Kigali. The department’s equality impact assessment for the policy states there are “concerns” over the treatment of some LGBTQI+ people in the east African country, and that investigations point to “ill treatment” of this group being “more than one off”. It comes the day after the Home Office said the first group of people would be informed this week of the government’s intention to relocate them to Rwanda. The first flights were expected to take place in the coming months, it said, adding that lawyers for some of those affected were likely to launch proceedings to stop their removal.