A Nigerian man said to be “near death” following a hunger strike is back in the UK after the Home Office flight deporting him had to turn around.

Isa Muazu’s lawyers said he had been returned to the medical wing at Harmondsworth detention centre.

It is thought the Nigerian authorities did not clear the plane to land.

Mr Muazu had sought asylum in the UK claiming he would be killed by Islamic extremists if returned to Nigeria. He began refusing food in September.

The Home Office rejects his arguments and attempted to deport the 45-year-old on Friday after he lost a series of legal challenges.

The privately-chartered jet was in the air for a number of hours, but it is believed the Nigerian authorities did not give the pilot landing rights. It is unclear why.

The plane is thought to have stopped in Malta for two hours before returning to the UK.

‘Like a skeleton’

The Home Office is understood to be working with the Nigerian government to try to secure Mr Muazu’s removal.

He has been held in detention since he claimed asylum in July, saying he faced persecution from the hardline Islamic group Boko Haram.

Lord Roberts, a Lib Dem peer, told the Observer newspaper he had seen Mr Muaza on Tuesday “when a doctor had judged him too ill to fly”.

“Goodness knows what state he must be in now, the poor man,” the peer said. “He needs hospital treatment.

“[Home Secretary Theresa May] has caused immense harm to one individual and spent an extraordinary amount of taxpayers’ money.

“I hope there will be no question of sending this poor man away again.”

The paper says when the plane landed he was “was taken off by stretcher”.

The Nigerian is 5ft 11in (1.8m) tall and weighs eight stone (53kg), his lawyers have said.

He has said that he came to the UK “for a better life” and would “rather die” than face removal.

Read more: BBC News