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Petition Tag - asylum
1. Open Asylum Inquiry: Must Hear Testimony of Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Supporters 
Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee are about to hold an Inquiry in to Asylum - covering all aspects of the UK system from screening, detention, Fast Track, destitution, media reporting, women and the vulnerable, and outcomes of the system.
This Inquiry follows the committee of MP's damning report on the thoroughly discredited UKBA, which is now being shut down, as Movement for Justice had called for.
Hearing the direct, open live testimony of the experience of all aspects of the asylum system from those who experience it is essential, as the key prerequisite of the Inquiry to fully comprehend the system as it is, and to fix the broken system that exists. Our petition and action is crucial so that change is not merely cosmetic, and Britain live up to its promise of sanctuary, safety and equality.
With the imminent passage of Bill 14 in Quebec, democracy is being legislated away along with our fundamental rights and freedoms. And there seems to be no way to stop it. UNLESS we do something that makes international headlines and draws the spotlight to us.
Imagine 10,000 Quebecers/Canadians applying for asylum to the United States - you can't buy optics like that.
Help us fight back!
3. EU asylum for Anastasia Grishay
Anastasia Grishay is a very kind person and a very good mother.
She loves her kids and places them above all.
She is being persecuted in her home country Ukraine, for starring in porn.
As a fact Anastasia needed money so badly after she has been left alone with kid, that she was ready to do anything to feed her family.
Getting into the porn business was not an easy decision at all. And sometimes, more often these days, people have to face the struggle to protect their families from poverty.
A beautiful soul makes a beautiful person; and Anastasia is very beautiful indeed.
Please, your support can save her family.
4. Waheed Zehri must be allowed to stay!
We demand that Mir Waheed Zehri must be granted asylum for his own safety - NOW!
As a Christian he would face a very real threat of abuse, intimidation, separation, unfair working conditions, persecution, torture and a very possible death in Pakistan.
5. STOP THE DESTITUTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS
Ibrahim from Algeria has been seeking asylum in Britain since 2005. He was educated to university level in Algeria without a leader, when both the Algerian National Army and armed Islamic militias began to take part in violence and human rights abuses directed at the Algerian civilian population, Ibrahim fled the army in protest and went into hiding in the mountains.
When a new president came into power in 1999, he felt safe enough to return to Algiers where he dedicated himself to writing a book entitled ‘Democracy in the Arab and Islamic World’. This book eloquently expresses his opinions on the ‘fierce conflict’ between democracy and Islam and shows a strongly held intellectual skepticism over the contemporary application of Islamic ‘Sharia’ law in Algeria. It was published in Paris in 2009.
The writing and publishing of his work caught the eye of hard-line Islamic militants. They accused him of being anti-Islamic, and started a hate campaign against him – they preached against him in the mosques, he received death threats and people beat and insulted him in the streets. They broke into his house, smashing down the door and tore up the manuscript oh his book and his other writings. At this point Ibrahim realized he had to flee the country or he could very soon lose his life.
He escaped to England by sea and land and not long after applied for asylum. At this point the troubles began that have lasted until now. His claim for asylum suffered set back after set back due to unsuitable interpreters and a shocking lack of legal advice and support throughout his case. He has been forced to spend long months and years waiting for repeated negative decision from the authorities.
He has been forced to move from house to house, surviving on next to nothing: not being legally allowed to work, and denied access to benefits and education. Finally he decided to apply to voluntarily return to Algeria, despite the obvious danger, but this also was refused on the grounds that they could not obtain a travel document for him. So, here he is – in an endless limbo; a horrific and dehumanizing no man’s land with no options left.
Ibrahim has finally and bravely decided to sleep out on College Green, in front of Bristol City Council, he has been sleeping there every single night since the 1st of July, for 19 days now, to tell his story openly, without fear or shame, to put it into the hands of the authorities and the British Public, hoping through this peaceful and poignant protest that the long years of waiting and suffering may finally be resolved.
By signing this petition you are showing your support for Ibrahim and for the many other destitute asylum seekers living in limbo, who experience absolute and severe poverty, who have no money and accommodation or the right to work and support themselves. In supporting the motion, we believe that the Council can send a strong message to the UK Government that its inhumane and ineffective policy of forcing people who have been refused asylum into abject poverty onto the streets of our city is unacceptable to the people of Bristol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHRoJ8gGGq0
Australia has done absolutely nothing to publicly defend one of its citizens from harassment and political savagery by the United states, Great Britain and Sweden.
We therefore request the President of Ecuador to grant his request for asylum for the sake of truth in an untruthful world.
7. In Support of Asylum for Julian Assange in Ecuador
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London and is seeking political asylum.
8. Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia MUST STAY!
Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia MUST STAY!
Justice delayed is justice denied.
End the degrading treatment of Refugees.
Grant asylum to Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia NOW.
Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia are lesbian/gay activists and civil rights leaders from Uganda and Senegal, nations where openly gay people are politically persecuted, imprisoned and murdered for being gay. Tacko, Asuman, Andrew, and Proscovia are seeking political asylum in Britain. Their outspoken and public opposition to the anti-gay political policies of the Ugandan and Senegalese governments means that a decision by the British government to return them to Uganda or Senegal is tantamount to a death sentence.
Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia are members of the Movement for Justice and leaders of the struggles against racism and the scapegoating of refugees and asylum seekers here in Britain. They are also tireless leaders of the struggle for lesbian/gay equality in Britain, Africa and other parts of the world. Both the governments and anti-gay death squads of Uganda and Senegal know their sexual orientation.
Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia have not been granted asylum, even though each of them filed a claim many months ago. Three survived torture; the fourth’s partner was tortured and killed. Living under the constant threat of deportation, never knowing what the next day holds, is an especially excruciating experience for these political asylum seekers.
Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia have not been granted asylum thus far because of their political activism in Britain. All four are members of the Movement for Justice and leaders of the struggles against racism and the scapegoating of refugees and asylum seekers here in Britain. Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia are also tireless leaders of the struggle for lesbian/gay equality in Britain, Africa and other parts of the world. They are precisely the kind of leaders that Britain needs to progress as a society.
Last year Britain co-sponsored a Joint Statement on LGBT Rights by 85 countries at the United Nations, calling on governments like Uganda and Senegal to end the torture of LGBT people, protect their safety and human rights, and stop treating homosexuality as a criminal offence. Granting asylum to Tacko, Asuman, Andrew and Proscovia is an easy, direct and meaningful way for the British government to show that its pious words will be backed by action.
AN OPEN APPEAL FROM MOHAMMAD GHANBARI TO THE UN AND AMENSTY INTERNATIONAL:
I, ‘Mohammad Ghanbari’ also known as ‘Mohammad Majidi’, was born in Tehran in 1985. While a university student majoring in film, I was forced to escape my homeland due to threats on my life, thus abandoning my educational pursuits.
My activities and responsibilities in the realms of human rights and politics since 2006, and the positions held include:
-Secretary of the student branch of ‘Iran National Unity Front’ (the post of Secretary General of the party was held by Mr. Amir Hosein Heshmatsaran, who was assassinated in the winter of 2009).
-Secretary of the ‘Iranian Students Confederation’, Karaj branch.
-Speaker of the Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners’ Rights.
I had been employed in the film industry. Due to my endeavors for the cause of equal rights between genders and in the pursuit of democratic reforms, I was repeatedly arrested and tortured. The post- election cleansing campaign implemented by the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Corps since 2009 has resulted in an utter lack of security for those actively opposed to the despotic ruling regime in Iran. After the assassination of Mr. Heshmatsaran, I was apprehended and threatened by intelligence agents on several occasions, hence my life was clearly in peril. Most recently in the summer of 2011, after agents of the Intelligence Ministry assailed our home to arrest me, fearing execution I was forced to flee my country.
Due to the threats and torture inflicted by the Intelligence apparatus, I have been afflicted with emotional and psychological illness; I was constantly in a state of fear, anxiety, and depression. I was present alongside Mr. Heshmatsaran’s family to retrieve his remains. Moreover, I was present to retrieve the body of Mr. Hosein Razi, from the National Front, who was laid to rest in winter of 2011.
I never had any intention of seeking asylum, as I do love my country. My expatriation and critical condition are sadly the results of a tyrannical government ruling Iran.
I along with other political and human rights activists in Iran did not expect guests when we heard a knock at the door. We lived in constant fear. When we left the house our families worried for our safe return, fearful they might never see us again as we were subject to violent assaults by government thugs. Although I am presently in Turkey, Intelligence Ministry agents have assailed my home in Iran and threatened my family.
Several well-known friends of mine and personalities such as Mr. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, Peyman Aref, Mehrdad Lohrasbi, Hojjat Bakhtiari, Manoochehr Mohammadi, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Afshin Baymani, Arjang Davoodi, Naser Mohammadi, Mohammad Mostafaee, and Ms. Shiva Nazar Ahari, Fereshteh Shirazi, Nazanin Afshin Jam, and many others know me and are aware of my activism.
I am hereby pleading for help from all human rights activists and all who value freedom and equality. If I am forcibly repatriated, I shall be sentenced to death. I am in Turkey at the present, living in dire conditions emotionally and otherwise.
Case number : 11C03864-385
Date of Birth : 21 Sep 1985
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Mohammad Ghanbari (Majidi)
Film Maker and Human Rights Activist
10. RESPECT GAY RIGHTS - SCRAP THE ANTI-GAY BILL
Addressing an audience of diplomats in Geneva, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called for the rights of gay people to be respected.
"Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world," Mrs Clinton said.
"Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."Reacting angrily to Mrs Clinton's speech, Ugandan presidential adviser John Nagenda told the BBC: "That fellow [Mr Cameron] said the same thing. Now this woman [Clinton] is interfering.
"If the Americans think they can tell us what to do, they can go to hell."
Uganda is a staunch ally of the US, receiving military assistance to fight a local rebel group - the Lord's Resistance Army - and has sent troops to Somalia to fight the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.
Mr Nagenda said Uganda would continue to co-operate with the US on security and other issues, but added: "If they are childish enough to take away aid, we'll see what we do [in response]."
11. King Eze Onuigbo (H.O.REF:O1142828), a brave Biafra activist must Stay
Mr King Eze Onuigbo arrived in the UK in 2001.He got married in the UK in 2008. The UKBA is now disputing the authenticity of his marriage and has subsequently withdrawn his residence permit. But the greater danger is that if he is removed to Nigeria, he would be harmed, if not killed in Nigeria because of political views and activism for Biafra actualisation.
On 20th November 2006, Mazi Onuigbo participated actively in disrupting the image-laundering project of the Nigerian government called ‘Nigeria Heart of Africa’, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Hall. Till date, the Nigerian government is still looking for the protesters. Mazi King Onuigbo’s participation in that disruption can be viewed via this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=f5mNjp-ddvk
And the demonstration at the Nigerian High Commission at Northumberland Street can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R0WxiLKgYE
Furthermore, Mazi Onuigbo is a leader and not an ordinary member of a number of pro-Biafra organizations in the UK. He is the founder of Biafra Peace Movement, a member of Biafra Liberation in Exile (BILIE); the current president of the Good Shepherd Movement and former director of mobilisation Biafra Liberation League/MASSOB INTERNATIONAL.
The Home Office Operational Guidance note 2009 states that, "In the southeast over 600 people were arrested and detained during 2005 on suspicion of being members of MASSOB".
"Demonstrations in September 2005, following Biafra Day on 26 August 2005, claimed a reported 6 lives although other local reports indicated as many as 200 may have been killed by police. Ralph Uwazurike, the leader of the group, was arrested in October 2005 along with 6 of his deputies on treason charges."
"According to MASSOB figures, more than 100 MASSOB supporters were in detention as of March 2006".
“... those that take part in illegal demonstrations or other illegal activities [eg raising the
“Biafra” flag or being in possession of “Biafra” currency] may face arrest and
prosecution for any offences that have been committed"
Asylum NOW for Proscovia – Ugandan Lesbian Activist standing for freedom and justice.
Stop deporting LGBT activists to persecution and death. Amnesty now for all immigrants – no more second class citizenship.
Proscovia is an open lesbian activist and a member of the Movement for Justice - a leader fighting for the rights and equality of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and for equality for everyone who faces discrimination and injustice. She is a refugee from Uganda where the LGBT community faces constant persecution and lives with the threat of death, where homosexuality is illegal and MPs in the ruling party are proposing a bill that would introduce a death sentence for lesbians & gay men.
Like so many lesbians in nations where homosexuality is persecuted, Proscovia faced intense pressure to conform and to marry; she had to keep her relationships secret and lived in constant fear of discovery.
Proscovia came to Britain after experiencing torture and rape. Now in Britain she is fighting for her right to stay, to be free from persecution and abuse, to live and love openly. She is fighting a Home Office asylum system that refuses to accept the truth about the danger facing LGBT people in Uganda and elsewhere and routinely deports asylum seekers to countries where they face torture or death.
BE at Proscovias hearing Wed 11 April 2012: http://www.facebook.com/events/301712633233655/
Hear Proscovia speak...
13. Save Hadi
Re: Asylum case of Mr Hadi Abdollahian holder of the UNHCR registration no 385-11C04414, reference number 2011/PLN/01217, national of Iran, born on 09/03/1991.
Dear UNHCR officer,
As a human rights activist, I am writing to express my deepest concerns regarding the status of the above-named asylum seeker whose application is currently under consideration in Turkey while he is waiting for his substantive interview to take place.
Whilst in Iran, due to his, and his father’s activities against the current regime, Hadi has been subject to such various ill-treatments as torture, rape, imprisonment and other forms of discriminatory behaviours, for which visual and medical evidences are available.
Hadi was the designer of two well-known websites both of which were later used to spread anti-regime materials. Evidence is accordingly available on the internet and shall be submitted to your office, too. Mr Abdollahian’s father, who was a senior airforce pilot during the previous regime of Iran, was killed in a suspicious road incident in Iran in 2008 following which the authorities refused to further pursue the case.
A brief summary of one of the events Hadi has be gone through would be as follows:
After the death his father, Hadi was contacted by the Intelligent Services agents, accused to be doing what his father was doing, and to be a Pan Azeri, and was thus forced to cooperate with them. During a meeting, he was told that those responsible for his father’s death will only be found if he accepts the cooperation. He was thereby forced by the agents to cooperate in Computer and IT related matters. Following the 2009 election and the Green Movement in Iran, and after observing what was being done to people, he decided to upload the clips taken from the event onto the internet, that is, to one of his well-known websites. This was action was perceived by the agents of the regime, upon which he gets summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz, East Azerbaijan. Once he returns home from a short holiday, he gets beaten up very badly in front of their house by several members of the Basij force, following which he makes a note on his website describing the event. The next day, he gets arrested and blindfolded, and was taken to place that he describes as a “smelly basement”, where he was severely tortured, hit with pipes and thick sticks, sexually raped, abused, humiliated, and said that the next time he will end up dead. He is thereafter blindfolded again, and thrown out of a car in the countryside of his city, Ahar.
As a result of the aforementioned events, and various other incidents faced by Hadi, he is now suffering from severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), insomnia, nightmares, and is highly suicidal. He is also suffering from various physical difficulties such as constant backaches, headaches, heartburns, and is in serious need of medical investigation, hospitalisation and treatment.
This is a petition to demand an immediate halt to the illegal deportation of Navid Mirpourzadeh (case no. 112408447), an Iranian asylum-seeker who has sought refuge in Sweden from persecution by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has detained and tortured Navid for his political activism in Iran. The Swedish government intends to deport Navid back to his torturers on 19 August 2011.
Navid should be immediately released from detention and granted political asylum as is his right under international law:
1) Navid has a well-documented history of activism in support of freedom and against the Islamic Republic. He is an activist with Mission Free Iran, an organization that explicitly supports the downfall of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran. Navid has been visibly active organizing against the regime in Sweden, coordinating several demonstrations against the regime. He has also been a prominent defender of the rights of asylum-seekers to asylum, protection, and their right not to be sent back to a regime that is executing people daily.
As is well-known by the Swedish government, anti-regime activists are usually charged with propagating against the regime and moharebeh, which carries the death sentence in Iran.
2) The Islamic Republic considers all Iranian political asylum-seekers to be criminals, deeming their quest for asylum as propagating against the regime. The Islamic Republic has on several occasions declared and applied its intent to prosecute returned political asylum-seekers, on the basis of Article 7 of the Islamic Republic’s Penal Code.
3) It is illegal under international law for any country including Sweden to deport a person who has a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country. It is therefore undeniably illegal under the same international law for the Swedish government to participate in the crime of deporting Navid Mirpourzadeh to Iran, where he will be detained, tortured, and likely executed if he is returned to the bloody hands of the Islamic Republic.
سابقه و هدف (مقدمه) :
این طومار تقاضای توقف فوری تبعید غیر قانونی نوید میرپورزاده (مورد: 112408447)، یک ایرانی پناهجوست که ازتعقیب، شکنجه و آزار توسط جمهوری اسلامی ایران فرار کرده و به کشور سوئد پناه آورده است. در برابر است که بازداشت و شکنجهبرای پی فعالیت های سیاسی خود در ایران است. دولت سوئد، به جای پناهندگی، نوید را بازداشت کرده، و در نظر دارد که در تاریخ 19 اوت 2011 نوید را از کشور سوئد اخراج و تحویل به شکنجه گران جمهوری اسلامی ایران دهد.
تحت قوانین بین المللی، نوید باید فورا از زندان آزاد شده، وحق خود را به عنوان یک پناهنده سیاسی دریافت نماید:
1) نوید دارای سابقه مستند فعالیت علیه جمهوری اسلامی و در حمایت از آزادی است. او یکی از فعالان سازمان Mission Free Iran است که به صراحت از سقوط رژیم جمهوری اسلامی در ایران پشتیبانی می کند. نوید در سازماندهی تظاهرات متعددی در سوئد علیه رژیم ایران نقش فعالی داشته است. او همچنین مدافع برجسته حقوق سایر پناهجویان ایرانی در سوئد بوده است که از فرستادن آنها به ایران، کشوری که هنوز مردم در ان روزانه اعدام میشوند، جلوگیری کند.
همانطور که دولت سوئد به خوبی با این مساله آشناست، فعالان ضد رژیم معمولا با اتهام تبلیغ علیه نظام و محاربه به اعدام محکوم میشوند.
2) از نظر جمهوری اسلامی، همه پناهجویان سیاسی، و آنان که برای پناهندگی خود در خارج از ایران تلاش میکنند، جنایاتکار هستند و به تبلیغ علیه نظام اشتغال دارند و جمهوری اسلامی قصد خود را در مورد چنین اشخاصی صریحا اعلام کرده است که، بر اساس ماده 7 قوانین مجازات جمهوری اسلامی، پناهجویان سیاسی و بازگشتگان تحت تعقیب قرار خواهند گرفت.
3) تحت قوانین بین المللی، این برای هر کشوری، از جمله سوئد، غیرقانونی است که یک پناهنده سیاسی را از کشوری که به آن پناه آورده تبعید کرده، و به کشوری که از آن از ترس آزار و شکنجه فرار نموده است برگردانند! از این رو، تحت قوانین بین المللی، برگرداندن نوید میرپورزاده به ایران برای دولت سوئد نه تنها یک کار غیر قانونی است، بلکه به منظور شرکت در جرم و جنایت بر علیه نوید حساب خواهد شد، چرا که بازگشت نوید به ایران به بازداشت، شکنجه، و به احتمال زیاد به اعدام او بدست خونین جمهوری اسلامی منجر خواهد شد.
Translation to Farsi: Ham Sangar
Mrs S is an Egyptian woman, who we're campaigning for to have her case for asylum reconsidered. She and her two children have been rejected in their third and final appeal for asylum.
A few years ago, they fled violence, rape and inevitable female genital mutilation for sanctuary in the UK. Mrs S describes how they finally "felt human" here. They felt free, being able to live their everyday lives without fear.
For more information, please see: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Give-Her-Sanctuary/106049906154255
Please sign our petition to the Home Secretary to simply reconsider their case, asking them to look again at the evidence that we think was unfairly dismissed.
This is a community-led campaign, supported by the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) and the Lush Cosmetics shops in Wales. We're helping to spread the word and to gather signatures from as many people as possible.
Please sign our petition, and share this with everyone.
16. Stop Deportation of Disabled Women Asylum Seekers
We are a group of rights activists from UK and would like bring to your notice an urgent matter which has gone unnoticed.
The deportation of failed Disabled women asylum seekers irrespective of which ever country they belong to should be stopped as it is a straight violation of basic human rights. It is extremely inhuman to send back disabled women asylum seekers as they already have lot to cope with. Rules are for human beings and especially should be in favour of humans for whom life has not been fair.
Imagine a paraplegics life who is being deported and sent back to a country where she may face ill treatment or destitution. Especially disabled women asylum seekers are more vulnerable in their countries due to lack of amenities and possible exploitation by mentally sick and perverted people apart from their possible persecutors.
The inhuman practice or disregard and insensitiveness towards failed disabled woman asylum seekers should be immediately stopped and also their detention. The care of these failed disabled woman asylum seekers should be entrusted to other able bodied asylum seekers (Women) under the community service work . This will greatly reduce the pressure on the system and people from the same backgrounds can also integrate easily reducing the isolation stress. The aim is that we build a much more humane society with decrease in the burden on the present infrastructure and manpower.
UK has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 but in practice it is slipping on the issue of the world's most vulnerable ones- DISABLED WOMEN ASYLUM SEEKERS and especially the ones who have failed. It has been learnt that UKBA ( United Kingdom Border Agency) has shown utter insensitivity towards them.
We urge you to protect the disabled women asylum seekers and not to be deported irrespective of any country they belong to. We request you to undertake this very seriously as the human rights levels in the civilised world are slowly decaying. It is the first world where we need to contain the basic degradation of human rights which goes unnoticed due to the turmoil around the world.
We request you to write and pursue this matter with Mr David Cameron,PM of Uk, Mr. Nick Clegg, Deputy PM of UK and also Ms. Theresa May , Home secretary of state. Infact deportation of Disabled Women Asylum seekers should be stopped worldwide inorder to restore the basic human rights values to the ones who need them the most.
Looking forward to a positive development and a assertive action to stop the deportation of Disabled women asylum seekers.
Thanks and regards,
Mark Grant
Free Edson Cosmas – Gay Tanzanian Activist standing for freedom and justice - detained in UK detention centre.
Stop deporting gay activists to persecution and death.
Amnesty now for all immigrants – no more second class citizenship.
Edson is a prominent, openly gay activist, member of Movement for Justice, and a leader fighting to bring forward the rights and equality of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and achieve greater equality.
Edson came to the UK as a student to be able to develop himself in a country where for the first time he could really be himself. He was known to be gay in Tanzania, where homosexuality is illegal and carries prison sentences of 25 years, and gay and lesbian activists are targeted for arrest. He has been attacked, beaten and denounced in Tanzania because of his sexuality – a typical experience for LGBTI people who are ‘out’. But in the UK instead of safety LGBTI people find detention, fast-track and the threat of deportation into even greater danger.
Edson Cosmas is not safe in Tanzania – Free Edson now!
Additional: If you have information, contacts or experience about LGBTI refugees from Tanzania please message us with your contact details.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Edson-Cosmas/224079517608222?sk=info
www.movementforjustice.org
Semere is Eritrean young man. He sought asylum in Italy, but his wife and 2 children were in the UK. He came to the UK, so he could be with them and sought asylum here. He is about to be deported back to Italy on Wednesday 2 March 2011, despite having his 2 little children here.
He hates the idea of being removed from his children. He is a loving father and a devoted Christian. We trust God that he will be reunited with his family and the deportation will be refused on compassionate grounds.
19. Let Robert Stay!
My name is Robert Aweet. I am of mixed heritage, my father was Sudanese and my mother was Somalian. I came to England to seek asylum because of the civil war situation in Somalia, where I lived with my mother. My father had died of an illness when I was younger.
I fled Somalia to Kenya, after my mother was shot dead in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. I spent many years on the run, in between the Kenyan refugee camps and Somalia. I had to leave Somalia permanently and supported myself in Kenya through fishing. I came to England from Nairobi to seek asylum due to the harassment of refugees in Kenya. I was regularly arrested and beaten by the Kenyan police.
I sought Asylum in Liverpool in 2009. When I arrived I was taken to detention and then given housing by the government while I waited for my claim to be processed. After 4 court cases my claim was rejected. This is because the government dispute my nationality despite expert witnesses testifying otherwise. I was then kicked out of my accommodation; I became homeless for eight months. During this time I became very ill and I was diagnosed with TB. My deportation order was postponed, but I am now again threatened with deportation.
I am displaced, I have no place to call home and no community to return to. I have built a life in Sheffield, I now have many friends here. This is my home.
I am appealing to the home office to give me leave to remain; I would really appreciate your signature.
Thank you.
20. Stop the deportation of Peter Gichura
Disability rights activist Peter Gichura, who has lived in Croydon, UK since 2001, has received a Removal Order from the Home Office, which will force him to return to Kenya and leave the life he has built in the UK.
Despite the difficulties Peter has faced as an asylum seeker, he has spent his time positively, successfully completing NVQ level 4 in accounting and doing voluntary work and activities with Payday men’s network, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Leonard Cheshire Disability, Westminster Action Network on Disability, and his local church. Peter is an active and well-respected member of his local community, with many friends and networks in the UK.
Peter was instrumental in establishing a disabled persons’ organisation in Kenya, advocating for the rights of disabled street sellers. He fled in 2001 to escape anti-Kikuyu persecution against disability activists.
Whilst in the UK, Peter has made good use of his skills, by being involved in campaigns to improve access to public services for disabled people, including London buses.
Peter has made a significant contribution to the disabled people’s movement in the UK. As an asylum seeker, he was detained in Harmondsworth in 2006, without accessible washing and toilet facilities, not given the correct medication, and subjected to painful body searches. With the support of WinVisible and Payday, Peter challenged the Home Office and Kalyx, the company that runs Harmondsworth detention centre, using the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
In May 2008 the Court of Appeal made a precedent ruling on his DDA case -- that all disabled people in custody before December 2006 do have the protection of anti-discrimination legislation.
During the plane journey to the UK in 2001 Peter was manhandled, causing his spinal injury to worsen. He has gone from using crutches to using a wheelchair, and relies on medical treatment without which he would die. In 2006, he applied for asylum on that basis: "As someone with spinal injury I am vulnerable to chronic kidney infection and need sanitary living conditions to survive – but there is no running water where I am from in Nyahururu, Kenya. I cannot afford medical treatment – and there is no free healthcare." Expert evidence confirmed this but was ignored, and Peter’s claim was turned down.
Removal now would put Mr Gichura’s health and life at serious and immediate risk.
Above all, Peter has built his life in the UK, has contributed to society through his active commitment to voluntary and community groups. Peter has the skills and experience that will help him to build a career, he has a job offer, and will thus be able to support himself financially if he is given leave to remain in the UK.
21. End Allen Sibanda's Detention
Allen is a 28 year old man from Zimbabwe who arrived in the UK on a visitors visa in 2001. He left Zimbabwe in order to escape forced military service under Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF regime.
Allen grew up living in government housing allocated to military, police and government officials, a situation which made avoidance of forced military obligations impossible. Upon arrival Allen made contact with his Uncle who was residing in the UK, and whom arranged for Allen’s asylum process to be dealt with by a solicitor.
On three occasions (in 2001, 2004, 2006), the solicitor returned Allen’s passport to him with stamps extending his stay. Unbeknown to Allen, these stamps turned out to be counterfeits, the scammer posing as a solicitor is currently serving a prison sentence for producing fake Home Office Documents. It was not until he was arrested for dangerous driving in 2007 that Allen realised that the stamps were fake, having used his passport for UK government correspondents in the past.
Having served half of a nine month prison sentence for the driving offence, Allen has spent the last three years in Immigration Detention Centres around the UK, his asylum application upon arrest having been rejected.
22. Let Ahmad Fahim Akbari and his family stay
Let Ahmad Fahim Akbari and his family stay.
23. Save the Migrant Advice And Advocacy Project
NHS Newham and LBN propose to close down the Migrant Advice and Advocacy Project on which hundreds of vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers rely every year to maintain their most basic rights.
The project which employs two workers has made a real difference to people suffering extreme exploitation or deprivation -- working with many people in mental health difficulties.
24. Stop the New Threat to Zanu PF victims Abroad
ZANU PF is a party that for the last 30 years has thrived from suffocating other political opponents who do not support the party. Zimbabweans have been killed and died at the hands of ZANU PF supporters and militias because of supporting or belonging to other political parties other than ZANU PF.
25. Asylum for Shrouk El-Attar
Home Office Ref: S1391610/2
Shrouk El-Attar has been living in the UK for the last three years, she feels that she can express herself openly here and has a large community of friends around her but she is now under threat of deportation back to Egypt.
At age 16, Shrouk ‘came out’ as being gay to her friends and expressed her sexuality on ‘facebook’. In 2010, Shrouk decided to claim asylum as a refugee under the 1951 Geneva Convention to which the UK is a signatory. A Tribunal Court dismissed her claim for asylum on the 25th of October 2010.
On hearing about the dismissal of her claim for asylum Shrouk stated:
“I’m terrified about the possibility of being forcibly deported to Egypt. As a gay person, life in Egypt would be impossible for me. I would never be able to express my true self and would have to live my life in hiding.”
Shrouk fears that if she were to return to Egypt she would be persecuted by both the Egyptian authorities and by her own extended family. She is afraid that she will be forced into marriage, suffer Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and risk an honour killing if she resists.
We believe that the current Home Office policy of considering Egypt as a “safe” country does not reflect the reality of cases like hers.
If you would like to get involved or to be updated on Shrouk’s campaign, please e-mail savetheshrouk@hotmail.co.uk or join the facebook group ‘Asylum for Shrouk El-Attar’
26. Jean Michel Bomvoy – HO Ref. No. B1189167/5 Torture – Not In Our Name
Jean Michel, who has been under the care of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
had submitted a medico legal report documenting the torture he had suffered, however, a caseworker at UKBA rejected the professional opinion of an experienced medical practitioner trained by the Medical Foundation.
In Kinshasa, in October 2010 a Congolese man, resident in Belgium, was killed whilst in custody, The regime of President Kabila stands accused in the Human Rights Watch report of November 2008 of the systematic killing of 500 members of the opposition and the imprisonment, rape and torture of hundreds of others in Kinshasa and Western Congo. It is of great concern that Jean Michel will be targeted by the
regime, as he is a political activist and his broadcasts have been viewed in the Congo.
Between 2007 and 2010 nine Congolese were forcibly removed from the Tees Valley following the refusal of their asylum claims. All were the victims of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including torture and rape on their return to Kinshasa. All had been assured by the Home Office that it was safe for them to return to DRC... However, all had their human rights violated, including small children who were imprisoned for up to 3 months. Fiona Hall MEP highlighted her concerns about this in a speech in the European Parliament in September 2010. ‘In order to protect the wider interests of the community and the rights of the public, it is vital for the UK to maintain effective immigration control’.
UKBA in a letter refusing sanctuary to Jean Michel Bomvoy took the view that on balance it was acceptable to send a man, who has already suffered torture, back to face further human rights violations.
27. Mit Must Stay! Stop the deportation!
Mit Must Stay! Stop the deportation!
Make every college a Sanctuary College
Make London a Sanctuary City
Mit Singh Chopra is a 19 year old Sikh man, from Afghanistan, and a student at Westminster Kingsway College.
On Friday 24th September at 6am immigration police came into Mit Chopra’s home and took him into detention under threat of deportation.
All black, Asian and Latino, Turkish or Kurdish student face the threat of racial stereotyping, suspicion and harassment when an anti-immigrant climate is tolerated.
28. Hamid and Hushang, Iranian Refugees in Norway: Asylum, Protection, No Forced Return
Norway has denied asylum to Iranians Hushang Parsa and Hamid Gorbani, who identify with the anti-government Green Movement and who fear for their lives if they should be returned to Iran.
The Islamic Republic brutally represses peaceful protesters, journalists, students, and human rights activists within its borders:
Neda Agha Soltan was shot dead in the street, simply for walking among peaceful protesters in June 2009. Mohammad Valian, a 20-year old boy whose only “crime” was calling for freedom and throwing a rock, was sentenced to death. Thousands have been arrested after the 2009 protests. Hundreds of people have been executed.
Under these circumstances, any effort by Norway to forcibly return Hushang Parsa and Hamid Gorbani clearly and egregiously violates of the principle of non-refoulement: “no refugee should be returned in any manner whatsoever to any country where he or she would be at risk of persecution.” Norway has signed the Convention and Protocol on the Status of Refugees, where this principle is enshrined.
Hushang Parsa and Hamid Gorbani warrant refugee status and protection under UN conventions. Norway must recognize the implications of its act in these two cases: violating the principle of non-refoulement will have dire consequences for refugees worldwide, especially for thousands of Iranian refugees surviving precariously in Turkey, Greece and Iraq.
The world does not want these countries to follow a poor example set by Norway.
Please see the following letter-writing campaign for an action that will have immediate impact!
http://missionfreeiran.org/2010/09/26/hamid-and-hushang-stay/
29. Sanctuary for Mrs S and family
Sanctuary for Mrs S and family
Home Office ref: S1391610/1
Mrs S and two of her children arrived in the UK in November 2007 after suffering 15 years of violence in Egypt. Her youngest daughter remained behind and was helped by the Home Office to be reunited with the family safely in the UK. Despite this her case has now been refused and all rights of appeal have been exhausted. The whole family is under serious threat of honour-based violence and possibly even death if deported back to Egypt.
Mrs S has been seeking sanctuary from an abusive and cruel husband whose acts endangered her and her children’s lives for over 15 years to the extent of death and rape. The Egyptian authorities ignored this domestic abuse as her husband has close links with police, judges and other officials.
Mrs S should be granted international protection under the UN Refugee Convention as she holds a real and well-founded fear of persecution of her own life and that of her family. We call upon the Immigration Minister to grant Mrs S and her children the right to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds.
30. Let Flora and her children stay!
I am writing to you in support of Ms Flora O and her children, to be granted asylum in Britain.
Flora and her children fled to Britain from Nigeria in April 2005, after Flora’s ex-husband repeatedly beat her and forced her only daughter to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). The baby died as a result. Flora has since had another daughter and also has two little boys. Flora now suffers from depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The Home Office has refused Flora’s application for asylum with disregard for her and her children’s welfare. They face the real possibility of being targeted again by members of her ex-husband’s family.
If sent back to Nigeria, Flora and her children would be condemned to a life of severe poverty and no social security. The family will not have means of support.
If deported to their home country, Flora’s 4-year-old daughter would likely be force to go through FGM and the family would likely be persecuted again and/or killed.
Flora and her children have been building a new life for themselves here and are settled and integrated into the community in Swinton, Greater Manchester, where Flora volunteers in a charity shop and the children go to school. They want the opportunity to rebuild their life.
Home Office Ref: O1107504