Dr Alice Donald and Prof Philip Leach on cases where ‘pyjama injunctions’ have ensured British prisoners of war were not executed. Plus letters from Michael Meadowcroft, Jol Miskin and John Weightman

In a story about the Rwanda bill, you refer to Rishi Sunak toughening up his rhetoric on “pyjama injunctions” (Sunak faces Tory meltdown as deputy chairs back Rwanda bill rebellionReport, 15 January), meaning interim measures issued by the European court of human rights in exceptional circumstances. We should be careful about buying into this characterisation, as it trivialises the court’s urgent and legally binding injunctions, which are issued – sometimes out of hours – to avert an imminent risk of irreparable harm, such as death or torture.

Both the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill give ministers discretion to disregard interim measures in cases relating to the removal of a person from the UK. Rightwing Tory MPs would like to go further and block interim measures entirely.

This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.