No Borders South Wales

Jean Pierre Gueutchue is currently detained at Campsfield House IRC and is due to be forcibly removed on July 21st at 8pm on Kenyan Airways Flight 101.

Jean Pierre fled Cameroon and arrived in the UK in 2003 where he made a claim for asylum.

In Cameroon he was imprisoned and tortured for his political activity with the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC), a secessionist movement that has been declared illegal in Cameroon. In prison he was subjected to torture including being kicked, whipped and a practice called ‘falaka’, which is a where a victim’s legs are tied together and soles of the feet are beaten with the flat surface of a machete.

Jean Pierre suffers flashbacks, intrusive memories, nightmares about being tortured and is being medicated for depression, post traumatic stress disorder and sleep disturbances.

Jean Pierre also suffers from Hepatitis C and Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales has stated that it is vital that Jean Pierre’s health is reviewed in relation to his Hepatitis C treatment in October this year.

In the light of the current situation facing members of the SCNC in Cameroon and Jean Pierre’s health status, he should be offered protection in the UK.

See Jean Pierre’s campaign page for more background information.

What you can do to help:

1) Send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith using this model letter, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Jean Pierre Gueutchue be granted protection in the UK.

Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
E-mail: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

2) Send urgent faxes to Sam Okwulehie, Group Area Manager Kenya Airways using this model letter, urging them not to participate in forcibly removing a victim of torture.

Fax: 020 87455027(+44  020 87455027 from outside the UK)
Tel: 020 82831800 (+44 20 82831800 from outside the UK)

Last night there was a NO2ID benefit gig in Cardiff, organised by the local group, a few members of No Borders South Wales attended, and were well entertained by the performers; Lou Noble, Cosmo, Missdalogik, The Fix Up, New State Radio and Sicknote.

We used the opportunity of the gig to give out copies of our new leaflet against ID cards that draws attention to the way in which migrants are being used as a testing ground for a repressive system that the UK government wants to impose on everyone.

An article on the Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum “No2ID - with friends like these, who needs enemies?” has been the subject of some debate. ID cards has long been an unpopular concept in the UK, meaning authoritarian organisations with no real respect for personal freedom have given their backing to the NO2ID campaign.

We encourage opponents of ID cards to look at what is happening with the control of migrants, and see the thin end of wedge of the surveillance society. No doubt some of the less libertarian supporters of NO2ID would disagree with our stance on freedom of movement, hopefully others will agree. We wholeheartedly believe that the frontline of opposition to the creeping surveillance state is the defence of migrants, especially asylum seekers.

Politically No Borders has affinity with the Defy-ID network, which came out of the libertarian milieu. There was a Cardiff Defy-ID group, though it appears inactive. No Borders Nottingham and Defy-ID Nottingham published an article “Defy-ID and No Borders - Better together” we echo their sentiments.

The second failed attempt by the Home Office to deport Kemi, Taiwo and Yasim on tuesday gained some press attention. However the somewhat suspect claim by Virgin Nigeria Airlines’ Director of Corporate Communications Larry Agose (pictured) has taken centre stage for foiling the forced removal.

Larry said that:

We were approached to carry Kemi Ayinde who is billed for deportation from the UK on our flight, but we declined. We also do not intend to carry her on any of our subsequent flights.

Reporters from the Mirror, WalesOnline, & South Wales Echo all put the fact that the family was wasn’t deported down to the Virgin Nigeria refusing the Home Office. Breaking News Kenya has repeated the story and there has been discussion on the Mirror forum on the issue.  Other media souces BBConline and News Wales weren’t so sure, and have concentrated on the Judical Review that came into place some time before Larry’s statement. The whole thing appears to have really annoyed the racists on Stormfront, a sign to everyone that we’re doing something right!

Of course we couldn’t be happier that Virgin Nigeria has commited not to deport Kemi at any time in the future. And though we are somewhat cynical that they had originally refused to do the Home Office’s dirty work (especially given the evidence to the contrary, see previous posts), we’re willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. We hope that Virgin Nigeria’s heroic stand against the deportation of Kemi is followed up by the refusal to deport ANY failed asylum seekers by the whole Virgin group. 

A hardy collection of waterproofed campaigners from No Borders South Wales picketed the government’s ‘UK Borders Agency’ on Newport Road in Cardiff. This unassuming grey building is the heart of the UK’s immigration policy in South Wales, but it’s boring bureaucratic façade hides a truly barbaric regime.

This is the place where snatch squads leave at dawn in order to smash in peoples’ doors and drag them out of bed before dumping them in one of our squalid detention prisons. Innocent people, those who have committed no crime other than wanting to make a better life for themselves or flee opppression are forced to sign on here every week as part of their duty to this dehumanising system.

We do a regular picket outside this building for a number of reasons:

• We want to alert the public to what goes on here and make sure they know about the snatch squads
• We want to show asylum seekers some solidarity, tell them about what we do, and let them know not everybody in the UK is driven by the racist agenda of the right-wing press
• And we want to let the Home Office know that there’s opposition to their police-state politics, and that we won’t let their ‘business as usual’ carry on without some serious opposition

If you can join us we’ll be there, rain or shine, every second week for one hour at noon. Bring your sandwiches and a justified hatred of the way asylum seekers are being treated in our names. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.

The frantic replies being fired off by Virgin Nigeria to the many supporters of Kemi Ayinde contained what looks like a particularly strong claim. Stella Allen, a Customer Relations Executive at the company stated:

It is pertinent to mention that we do not tolerate the inhumane treatment of any person onboard any of our flights as we ensure that all our passengers are treated with dignity and respect firmly recognizing that Asylum Seekers are not criminals but law abiding persons found to have no right or entitlement to remain in that particular country. Furthermore, Virgin Nigeria does not make any special profit from these operations and has never operated a removal flight before. We only carry passengers booked on our reservation systems.

According to this statement Virgin Nigeria has never carried out a deportation (removal) of an asylum seeker before. The language, unlike the rest of the document, is pretty clear here. Well, how then do you explain flying Jumoke Adediwura and her daughters Elixabeth and Daniella (who’d been living in Birmingham) out to Lagos on Flight VK296 on Tuesday March 6th? Seems like operating a removal flight to us. And what about Ronke Falode and her children who were shipped out of the UK on flight VK292 on Jan 2nd this year? Then there’s the Akwade family who were flown out by Virgin Nigeria on 30th December? Either Virgin Nigeria employees suffer from some kind of strange amnesia or they’re telling us porkie pies. But maybe Stella Allen’s new to the job. Maybe since she’s taken over as Customer Relations executive, Virgin Nigeria really haven’t carried out any deportations?

If this is indeed the case then how do you explain the fact that Bridget O’Kora and daughter Osaivibie who were due to be flown on a Virgin Nigeria flight out of Gatwick only three days before Kemi and family? Bridget and Osaivibie weren’t actually deported, possibly because of a similar wave of letters, calls and e-mails thrown at Virgin Nigeria by their friends and supporters. Many of these campaigners were sent a remarkably familiar e-mail by the very same Stella Allen at Virgin Nigeria:

It is pertinent to mention that we do not tolerate the inhumane treatment of any person onboard any of our flights as we ensure that all our passengers are treated with dignity and respect firmly recognizing that Asylum Seekers are not criminals but law abiding persons found to have no right or entitlement to remain in that particular country. Furthermore, Virgin Nigeria does not make any special profit from these operations and has never operated a removal flight before. We only carry passengers booked on our reservation systems.

Hmmm. Now, either Stella’s very forgetful, very very forgetful, or she’s deliberately trying to pull the wool over our eyes. We could, of course, list more examples. But you get the point. Draw your own conclusions. And Stella, empty your desk.

The next regular No Borders picket of the Home Office’s ‘UK Borders Agency’ in Cardiff will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 9th July at 12 noon at General Buildings, 31-33 Newport Road (map).

These are the offices where people made the decision to deport Kemi Ayinde, Ama Sumani, and so many others, where the snatch squads leave from, where local asylum seekers have to sign and treated like criminals. Take a break from work/study/sitting in the park to join us and demonstrate your solidarity with migrants and show that we won’t tolerate the brutal practises that take place inside the building!

We’ve had two impressive victories in the last week, but we need to keep fighting. We need to let them know we’re still here, and that we’ll always be here while this racist and repressive migration regime remains.

As the fantasitic news was revealed that Asylum seeker Kemi Ayinde and her family were not deported today, reports also began trickling out to her supporters of Virgin Nigeria’s distinctly strange about-face on the matter.

At the end of last week, and until late yesterday, Virgin Nigeria’s PR department were working overtime e-mailing Kemi’s supporters assuring them it would be in non-compliance with the UK government if it refused to take an asylum seeker out of the country when asked. In other words, they had no choice to deport this sick pregnant woman and her family.

By late Monday afternoon, however, Virgin Nigeria and Virgin Unite (the fluffy charitable face of Richard Branson’s empire) were claiming that not only were they not going to deport Kemi, Taiwa and Yasim, but they’d never intended to fly them out in the first place.

This is part of the letter that many of Kemi’s supporters received from Virgin Nigeria’s ‘Customer Relations Executive’ Stella Allen:

We empathize with Kemi Ayinde and the circumstances surrounding her migration to the United Kingdom, as recounted by your goodself, and her subsequent pending deportation there from. We have noted the suggestion proffered by your goodself regarding the manner in which VNA conducts itself in this matter and we believe same to be tantamount to non-cooperation with the Government which is inimical to the interests of all concerned parties.

We know of at least 10 variants of this e-mail, and she was sending these out until late afternoon on Monday 7th July. The language is a bit wordy, but the implication is clear. Virgin Nigeria would carry out the removal because it didn’t want to turn down the Home Office’s request.

Later that day people started to receive e-mails from Jodi Watson who is a ‘Business Mobilisation Manager’ at Virgin Unite (the ‘independent’ charitable arm of the Virgin Group). They all contained texts along these lines:

I just wanted to clarify that Kemi will not be deported tomorrow on a Virgin Nigeria flight. Virgin Nigeria was approached but refused to carry her both now or in the future. It seems the story was printed without consulting Virgin Unite or Virgin Nigeria so we were not able to set the record straight.

Some campaigners also got the added bonus of having an e-mail written by Larry Agose, Virgin Nigeria’s Director of Corporate Commmunications, pasted into their reply. He claimed:

I confirm that we were approached to carry her on our flight for tomorrow, but we declined. We also do not intend to carry her on any of our subsequent flights.

So what’s going on here? Kemi’s removal directions told her she was about to be flown out of the UK on Tuesday 8th July at 10.15am on Virgin Nigeria flight VK292 from Gatwick North Terminal. There are a number of possible explanations to this mystery, but none of them leave Virgin Nigeria or the Home Office looking particularly good.

Another plane leaves without unwilling passengers

The removal of Kemi, Taiwo and Yasim was cancelled for today. The family were due to be removed on this morning at 10.15am on Virgin Nigeria flight VK292 from Gatwick North Terminal.

They are now in Yarl’s Wood detention prison, and their legal team has started the process of setting up a High Court judicial review. While this review is in process it makes it more difficult for the Home Office to remove them from the UK, making the family’s position slightly less precarious than it has been until now.

Kemi is heavily pregnant, and has recently encountered complications which make it difficult for her to stand without assistance. They were due to be flown back to Nigeria on a BA flight last week but, after a barrage of calls, faxes, and e-mails from friends and supporters, the family was taken off the aeroplane at the last minute and returned to detention. Now they have had another last-minute reprieve, and hopes are high that a convincing case can be made to allow them to return to Cardiff.

There is now a campaign page for sanctuary for Kemi, Taiwo and Yasim all campaign updates will appear on this page, please forward the link to anyone who would be willing to support the family.

Since No Borders South Wales launched the campaign to keep Kemi, Taiwo and Yasim safe in Cardiff last week, there has been considerable media interest in the case. The BBC carried information across it’s network, including radio and online. The South Wales Echo has carried stories of the averted deportation and planned removal this tuesday. Media Wales stablemate the Wales on Sunday ran an interview with Kemi and Taiwo which is well worth a read. And News Wales also recently carried a story about the growing political support for Kemi, this time focussing on Plaid Cymru MEP Gill Evans. The campaign has also gained the support of Cardiff Council, NCADC, the F-Word, and more.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

1) Please contact Virgin Nigeria to raise your concerns that Kemi isn’t fit to fly and she and her family will be at risk if deported. Use this model letter please amend/change re-write as you see fit but please remember to quote Kemi Ayinde, flight VK292, 10.15am, 08.07.08.

• Phone: 0844 412 1788,
• Fax: 01293 448035 from outside the UK + 44 1293 448035
• E-mail: customer.relations@virginnigeria.com

2) Please send urgent faxes/Emails immediately to, Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office: You can use this model letter please amend/change re-write as you see fit but please remember to include the HO Ref S1387236.

• Fax: 020 7035 0900 from outside the UK + 44 20 7035 0900
• Email: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

3) Contact Stop the Traffik and Virgin Unite to highlight how Virgin’s role in Kemi and family’s up coming deportation  directly contradicts their support of victims of trafficking.

• Email: info@stopthetraffik.org & contact@virginunite.co.uk
• Phone: 0207 921 4258 (stop the traffik)

It has been found that the Virgin Group (51% owners of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, which owns 49% of Virgin Nigeria Airways), through its charitable foundation Virgin Unite has direct links with anti-trafficking charity Stop the Traffik who pledge to “protect the victims of trafficking”. Virgin Unite states “Virgin Unite is fully behind Stop The Traffik to end slavery once and for all”.

Virgin’s role in the up coming deportation of Kemi, Taiwo and Yasim (more details here) directly contradicts their work with Stop The Traffik. It is fundamentally hypocritical of the Virgin Group to support a charity that is there to defend and support victims of trafficking, while at the same time potentially playing such a key role in sending a direct victim of trafficking back to a country where she faces the very real prospect of retribution. The fact that Kemi was trafficked is not disputed by the Home Office. In its letter of refusal it stated that “your account that you have been trafficked to the UK has been accepted”. We encourage everyone to complain to the airline about this injustice and its contradictory practices.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Contact Stop the Traffik and Virgin Unite to highlight how Virgin’s role in Kemi and family’s up coming deportation directly contradicts their support of victims of trafficking.

• Email: info@stopthetraffik.org & contact@virginunite.co.uk
• Phone: 0207 921 4258 (stop the traffik)