OXFORD, England, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Sixteen immigrants at large after an escape from a British detention center this weekend have been asked to turn themselves in to authorities.
The Mail on Sunday reported a top immigration rights activist has issued a personal plea to the 16 escapees, offering them legal aid if they simply hand themselves over to British authorities.
"If you have a grievance do it properly -- hand yourselves in now and get legal representation," Imam Sajid, former chairman of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said Sunday.
The 16 people were among 26 detainees who escaped from Campsfield House Immigration Detention Center in the county of Oxfordshire Saturday night after a series of fires were started there.
Authorities have since caught 10 of the escapees, but have been unable to locate the remaining 16.
Tension had been building at the center prior to the detainees' escape as numerous allegations of treatment violations were made by asylum seekers, the British newspaper said.
