Dying migrant was kept handcuffed until 2am as 4,000 were crammed into Manston, inquiry hears

From the Newshound archive · first published 25 September 2026 · last updated 26 September 2026.

An Iraqi man died of diphtheria after being kept handcuffed in hospital while his condition worsened, an inquiry into the Manston asylum centre crisis has heard. Senior Home Office officials were aware that conditions at the site were unlawful and that children faced serious risk, yet no contingency plan for alternative accommodation existed while 4,000 people were crammed into a facility designed for 1,000. A senior lawyer told the inquiry on Friday that Number 10 had played a direct role in pausing transfers to hotels.

Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, 31, was not immediately hospitalised despite diphtheria being identified, and died on 19 November 2022 at 05:30.

The inquiry's lead lawyer Claire Dobbin KC said Number 10 'clearly did play a decisionmaking role' in halting the transfer of arrivals to hotels, worsening overcrowding.

At the crisis peak, 81 families shared a single toilet, with babies, children and adults crammed into marquees alongside rampant disease.