Detainees at Campsfield House immigration centre in Kidlington today vowed to continue their hunger strike.

The protest started at the Langford Lane detention centre on Saturday and has now escalated to involve about 70 detainees.

The hunger strike was launched after detainees heard reports through the Kurdish media that a 35-year-old had killed himself after being sent back to Iraq from another detention centre.

Today, a 23-year-old Iranian detainee, who asked to be referred to by his nickname Benji, told the Oxford Mail: "I have been here for 11 months and I am prepared to stay on hunger strike until my last breath.

"I have no idea when my case will be dealt with and the only way for people to pay attention is for one of us to die.

"One of the detainees from Iraq is in a critical condition and he should have been taken to hospital but I don't think he is getting the proper treatment.

"Lots of detainees are lying on the floor because they feel so weak - they have no energy any more."

Nick Logan, a spokesman for the Home Office, said: "One detainee felt a bit dizzy but no-one is in a critical condition.

"Doctors come into the centre every day and all staff are first-aid trained. The detainees' medical care is not being neglected."

A UK Border Agency spokesman added: "A group of detainees at Campsfield have refused their meals over the past few days.

"The situation is under control and we are discussing with detainees their concerns.

"But we have got our priorities straight. In 2007, we deported the highest ever number of foreign lawbreakers, up by a huge 80 per cent, and we are committed to removing those who have no legal basis to stay in the UK."

Bob Hughes, a spokesman for the Campaign to Close Campsfield, said: "We are trying to do everything we can to support the detainees and will be handed out leaflets in Oxford to make people aware of the situation."