Shades of Double Punishment
[Since 1971 it has been the way of the UK Government to punish UK families, of which one of the family was a foreign national and had committed a criminal offence or breach of immigration rules by deporting the offender. This has always been seen as a 'double Punishment'. Now the government are attempting to punish all UK families for something only one member of the family has done. First they come for the foreign nationals, now they are coming for you!]
Collective punishment of families
Local authority and police decisions to seize the homes of family members of those charged in connection with the riots or convicted of terrorist offences punish whole families for one member's wrongdoing.
Councils routinely bring possession claims against blameless tenants whose children, lodgers or visitors cause nuisance or annoyance to neighbours[4] - but as housing lawyer Liz Davies observed, since the purpose of such provisions is to protect neighbours from anti-social behavior, the departure of the person causing the nuisance is enough to prevent the tenant's eviction.
An even more extreme example of collective punishment is taking place in Longsight, Manchester, where, if the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have their way, seven members of the family of Munir Farooqi, including two young children, will soon be homeless. Farooqi was convicted in September on charges of soliciting murder, acts preparatory to terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications, after allegedly trying to recruit undercover agents to fight in Afghanistan and selling extremist literature from his Manchester market stall. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum tariff of nine years, and is appealing his conviction. But Greater Manchester Police and the CPS have applied to seize his Victorian family home, which is believed to be owned by his wife - although she, their children, including an 8-year-old, and the couple's seven-month old grandchild live there.
Francis Webber IRR (More)
Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice
Next Monday representatives of 25 of the world's most powerful countries will be wined and dined by Gotabaya Rajapaksa [1]: the president's brother and Sri Lankan defence secretary, arguably the most powerful man in Sri Lanka, a brutal autocrat who has publicly denounced democracy and human rights [2], and a man against whom the UN has found credible allegations of the most serious types of war crimes; an allegation that is also levelled against the LTTE, their adversary in the conflict.
Click here to send these governments a message that they should not attend
(This alert no longer live - removal date passed)
3rd Attempt to Remove Kahiriri Family, this time it's Forced
Last Monday, Ebenezer and the children were unavailable to deport themselves, no one was in when the taxi knocked on the family's door.
Unfortunately UKBA officials captured the family, last Tuesday 8th November when Ebenezer went to collect Daisy & Zilah from the children's play group in Cardiff. they were whisked off to the Cedars Pre-departure accommodation, where they are now.
Directions for an escorted forced removal have been made; on Virgin Atlantic flight VS601 from Heathrow airport to Johannesburg at 19:25 hrs on Friday 11th November, then SW701 to Namibia
Ebenezer is still not minded to leave the UK and requests your further support.
She is seeking Your Support to remain in the UK
What you can do to help / Please take urgent action now
1) Email/Fax/phone, Willie Walsh CEO British Airways and urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah- attached model letter ' EbenezerDaisy&ZillahSR.doc. You can copy, amend or write your own version, if you do - please quote, Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah, due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Virgin Atlantic flight VS601 from Heathrow airport to Johannesburg at 19:25 hrs on Friday 11th November, then SW701 to Namibia.
Steve Ridgway
CEO Virgin Atlantic Airways
Customer.relations@fly.virgin.com
Tel: 0871 964 0013/ Fax: 0844 209 8708
Customer service Flight feedback form
2) Email/Fax Theresa May, Home Secretary. Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah and allow them protection in the UK.
Download model letter, EbenezerDaisy&ZillahTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zilla's Home Office Reference number K1254291 in any correspondence.
Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Emails: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
3) Email/Fax Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister: Ask him to intervene with the Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the forced removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah.
Download model letter EbenezerDaisyZillahNC.doc. You can copy, amend or write your own version - if you do please remember to include the following: Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah, Home Office Reference: K1254291, due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Virgin Atlantic flight VS601 from Heathrow airport to Johannesburg at 19:25 hrs on Friday 11th November, then SW701 to Namibia.
Nick Clegg - Deputy Prime Minister's Office
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
Correspondence Section:
Tel: 020 7276 0527
Fax: 020 7276 0514
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
Please notify Ebenezer's support group of any action taken:
Congolese Community of Wales Cardiff
<congolesecommunityofwales@ymail.com>
Opportunity for Israeli Palestinian Peace 'Slipping Away'
Palestinian Observer Says 'Occupying Power' 'Makes Mockery' of International Law; Israel Highlights 'Glaring Omissions' in Special Committee's 'One?Sided Narrative'
The opportunity for Israeli?Palestinian peace was "slipping away" and all efforts must be exerted to achieve a final peace settlement, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
For its report, the Special Committee, which was established by the General Assembly in 1968, had carried out its first ever mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, specifically to the Gaza Strip, by crossing Egypt's border with Gaza. It also convened meetings in Jordan, and engaged with interlocutors in the occupied Syrian Golan via videoconferences. In the course of its mission, the Special Committee collected testimony from 53 individuals.
During the morning's debate, the observer for Palestine said that while Israeli officials had made statements in the media and at the United Nations about their commitment to realizing peace, according to the Special Committee's report, during the reporting period more than 91 persons had been killed at the hands of Israeli occupying forces and more than 750 Palestinians in the West Bank had been displaced after their homes were demolished.
In the past month alone, amid serious diplomatic efforts by all concerned parties, Israel had announced the construction of nearly 6,000 more settlement units in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where its settlement expansion remained the most prevalent, she said. At the same time, Israel's expansionist wall continued unabated.
"The occupying Power", she said, had chosen to make a mockery of the international legal system by continuing to deliberately engage in the violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, by committing systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people, including "countless acts constituting war crimes and State terrorism".
Reliefweb, 06/11/11
(This alert has now passed its' deadline)
2nd Attempt to Force Kahiriri Family to Deport Themselves
Today Monday 7th November @ 14:00 hrs a taxi, will pull up at the Cardiff home of the Kahiriri family. The taxi paid for by UKBA will take them to terminal 5 @ Heathrow airport, once there Ebenezer will have to make her way to the BA check in desk. When they have cleared security, UKBA will give them their travel documents and they will be expected to walk themselves on to British Airways flight BA057 due to leave Heathrow airport today Monday 7th October @ 20:45 hrs to Johannesburg South Africa for onward transit on SA076 To Namibia.
The original self-deportation, scheduled for Thursday 27th October, never happened because the Taxi, that UKBA was supposed to have hired to pick them up never arrived.
Background:Ebenezer, Daisy & Zillah - Must Remain in the UK
US: Human Rights Report: Namibia
Human rights problems included police use of excessive force; prison overcrowding and poor conditions in detention centers; arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention, and long delays in trials; criticism of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); harassment and political intimidation of opposition members; and official corruption.
Societal abuses included violence against women and children, including rape and child abuse; discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, and indigenous people; child trafficking; discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and child labor.
Ebenezer is seeking Your Support to remain in the UK
What you can do to help / Please take urgent action now
1) Email/Fax/phone, Willie Walsh CEO British Airways and urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah- Download model letter EbenezerDaisy&Zillahww.doc. You can copy, amend or write your own version, if you do - please quote, Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah due to be forcibly removed from the UK on British Airways flight BA057 due to leave Heathrow airport today Monday 7th October @ 20:45 hrs for Johannesburg South Africa for onward transit on SA076 To Namibia.
Email: willie.walsh@ba.com
Email the BA company Secretary at:
company.secretary@britishairways.com
Customer Relations phone: 0844 493 0 787 Monday-Friday 08:00-18:30 (hold line till operator answers)
Online Contact customer relations: Go here . . . .
2) Email/Fax Theresa May, Home Secretary. Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah and allow them protection in the UK. Downlaod model letter, EbenezerDaisy&ZillahTM.doc or alternatively write your own one. Please remember to quote Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zilla's Home Office Reference number K1254291 in any correspondence.
Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Emails: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official" <CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>
3) Email/Fax Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister: Ask him to intervene with the Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the forced removal of Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah.Download model letter EbenezerDaisyZillahNC.doc. You can copy, amend or write your own version - if you do please remember to include the following: Ebenezer Kahiriri, Daisy & Zillah, Home Office Reference: K1254291, due to be forcibly removed from the UK on British Airways flight BA057 due to leave Heathrow airport today Monday 7th October @ 20:45 hrs for Johannesburg South Africa for onward transit on SA076 To Namibia.
Nick Clegg - Deputy Prime Minister's Office
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
Correspondence Section:
Tel: 020 7276 0527
Fax: 020 7276 0514
pscorrespondence@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
Please notify Ebenezer's support group of any action taken:
Congolese Community of Wales Cardiff
<congolesecommunityofwales@ymail.com> |
Sudan and South Sudan: Violence on both sides of the border continues to displace civilians
Ongoing fighting on both sides of the newly-established border between Sudan and South Sudan continues to displace civilians and threaten stability in the region. The countries have blamed each other for violence on their respective sides since South Sudan became independent in July 2011. (More)
Kazakhstan: Prison mosques, churches, and prayer rooms closed down
Kazakhstan has recently closed mosques, churches and prayer rooms in prisons, citing two laws restricting freedom of religion or belief before they came into force, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "Mosques and Russian Orthodox churches were built in prisons in violation of building regulations and the law", Aliya Kadenova of the Interior Ministry told Forum 18. "They are illegal - that's why they are being closed down." She refused to say why, if they had been built illegally, no prison governors had been prosecuted. (More)
(This alert no longer live - removal date passed)
Funke & Joseph - Belong to Glasgow - Urgent Action Needed Now
 Funke Olubiyi and her five-year-old son Joseph were at home when UKBA knocked on their door in Shaw Street, Govan, just before 7:00am Wednesday morning. Funke was in the bath when they banged on her door and started shouting through her letterbox. After they had got into the flat she was then handcuffed in front of her son and they were taken by UKBA van to the reporting centre at Brand Street. Little Joseph was scared and crying. He was not allowed any breakfast and was given something to eat in the detention room at Brand Street.
Held there for several hours, Funke was able to phone her lawyer, her Church Minister and Unity. She was then taken by a Reliance van to, Edinburgh airport where she was flown to London and then driven to the 'Cedars Pre-departure accommodation', where they are now.
Directions for an escorted forced removal have been made; on British Airways flight BA0083, Departing from Heathrow (London) Terminal 5 Saturday 12th November 2011 @ 22:15 to Nigeria
Model letters, who to Email/Fax/Phone, go here . . . .
There will be an Eighth Attempt to Remove Cornelius Lansana
Once again UKBA have cancelled the removal directions for Cornelius and immediately served him with RDs for the 18th November. No explanation of why the flight was cancelled, not that UKBA ever do give explanations. Flight on, flight off, is giving Cornelius severe depression.
Seventh Attempt to Remove Cornelius Lansana
Cornelius Lansana a national of Sierra Leone and resident in the UK since 2002, is currently in detention @ Dover IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on BMI flight - BD 967 on Friday 11th November @ 13:15 to Sierra Leone.
This will be the seventh attempt to remove Cornelius. The fifth attempt on Wednesday 8th June 2011 failed, Immigration officials in Sierra Leone, refused him entry and he was brought back to the UK. The sixth attempt on Friday 4th November failed through UKBA admin error.
Once again they are trying to remove him on a 'European Travel Document' that the Sierra Leone London Embassy has okayed, but highly unlikely that immigration at the the airport in Sierra Leone will accept.
Background: Model letters
Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules minimum age for marriage visas
The Minister of State for Immigration (Damian Green):
The changes in the Immigration Rules being laid before the House today are as a result of the Supreme Court judgement in R (on the application of Quila and another) (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and R (on the application of Bibi and another) (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] UKSC 45.
On 12 October 2011, the Supreme Court found that whilst they recognised that the Secretary of State was pursuing a legitimate and rational aim of seeking to address forced marriage, a rule (increasing the minimum marriage visa age from 18 to 21) disproportionately interfered with the Article 8 rights of those who were in genuine marriages. Accordingly, the Secretary of State has decided to revert to a minimum age of 18.
The changes will take effect on 28 November and will reduce the minimum age at which a person may be granted entry clearance or leave as the spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e), proposed civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of a sponsor, and the minimum age at which a person may sponsor such an application, from 21 to 18 years. It will also delete references to a minimum age of 18 for entry clearance or leave as the spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e), proposed civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of a HM Forces sponsor, and the minimum age at which a member of HM Forces may sponsor such an application. Guidance for those affected by the judgment will be published on the UK Border Agency website.
There is no place in British society for the practice of forced marriage. It is a breach of human rights and a form of violence against the victims. That is why the Prime Minister has announced that the Government will criminalise the breach of Forced Marriage Civil Protection Orders and that there will be a consultation on making forcing someone to marry an offence in its own right.
We are also investigating what more we can do to identify and protect those young people who have been placed at additional risk.
Iran: Baha'i Faith
Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the student campaign in Iran entitled Can you solve this? regarding the denial of education to members of the Baha'i faith. [79101]
Alistair Burt: I met with representatives from the Baha'i community in the UK to discuss this campaign and the wider issues of repression against the Baha'i minority in Iran on 15 September. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has so far received, and replied to, over 2000 emails expressing concern for the closure of the Baha'i Institute of Higher Education. The closure of the Baha'i Institute of Higher Education and arrest of members of its staff form part of a wider pattern of harassment of Baha'is in Iran, including the imprisonment of Baha'i leaders.
House of Commons / 8 Nov 2011 : Column 162W
Charity hands UN file to back Sri Lankan torture claims
Freedom From Torture doctors say torture continues after end of civil war as UK presses ahead with deportation of Tamils. A UK charity that is pushing for a halt to deportations to Sri Lanka has handed the UN a file of medical evidence to support allegations that authorities there are continuing to torture opponents.
The submission by Freedom From Torture formerly known as the 'Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture' is based on a review of 35 cases drawn from the 300-plus Sri Lankans who have been referred to the charity's UK clinics for examination or treatment over the last two years.
Physicians at the organisation say that detailed examinations of Sri Lankan patients show that torture is still continuing in 2011, two years after the end of the of the 26-year civil war that ended in defeat for separatist forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE.
Ian Cobain, guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 November 2011
Be careful what you wish for? UK takes over in Strasbourg
Adam Wagner, UK Human Rights Blog, November 7th 2011
After months of wrangling over the influence of Europe on our human rights law, today the United Kingdom begins its 6-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe (CoE), which amongst other things supervises compliance with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The CoE, not to be confused with the European Council, European Union, European Commission, Court of Justice of the European Union or European Parliament, is an international organisation with 47 member states comprising over 800 million citizens – see its Wikipedia entry for more on its many functions. The UK was one of the CoE's founding members when it joined on 5 May 1949.
Coincidentally, the court's new British president, Sir Nicholas Bratza, began his presidency on Friday; only the third British judge to do so (see my post from July). So there is a genuinely British feel to the organisation, at least for the next 6 months.
Two questions arise. First, what does the UK want to do with its presidency, and second, will it be able to achieve those aims?
Adam Wagner, UK Human Rights Blog, November 7th 2011
Nigeria: Bombings and shootings leave at least 67 dead
At least 67 people have been killed in a wave of bombings and shootings that targeted police stations, banks and churches in northern Nigeria, officials said yesterday.
No organisation has claimed responsibility, but there are suspicions that the radical Islamist group Boko Haram may have been responsible. The attacks started with a car bomb, which exploded outside a military barracks in the city of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. Gunmen then charged through the town, torching police stations and churches. A branch of a local bank was also destroyed.
Independent, 06/11/11
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