Bernard back with Lydia and both in the community where they belong (Posted 05/10/11)
An update from Lydia And Bernard Must Stay Campaign:
3 rd October 2011 / lydiaandbernardmuststay@gmail.com
1. Where are we legally?
1.1 Bernard was released without bail from Colnbrook on 29 th September and is back in Bury. He has to report twice weekly now to Dallas Court .
1.2 UKBA has given verbal confirmation that Lydia should also resume reporting this week, meaning that she can come out of hiding and return home to Bury. Written confirmation is expected to follow shortly.
1.3 Lydia and Bernard's new solicitor is preparing the Judicial Review which is scheduled for 17 th October.
2. Other campaign news
2.1 Lydia 's second play, Down with the Dictator! is ready for production. Lydia is working with director Magdalen Bartlett and Community Arts Northwest has offered help with casting the six male roles. A very low cost/free of charge venue is being sought for a date in November.
2.2 The support base for the campaign continues to grow and several high profile people in the public eye, including writers and actors, have given backing to the campaign. So far the list of supportive MPs includes: John Leech, David Crausby, Gerald Kaufman, Ivan Lewis, Dr Vince Cable, Simon Danczuk, Tony Lloyd, Fiona Mactaggart. If your MP has expressed support but is not on this list please let the campaign know so we can keep it up-to-date.
2.3 The UKBA is legally obliged to inform people of the reasons for refusal of their asylum case. The Home Office's procedures were not followed in Lydia and Bernard's case. They only discovered that their further representations had been turned down after Bernard had been detained - and three weeks after the decision had been made.
2.4 Lydia was involved in a peaceful WAST demonstration in Liverpool in July, during which she and her WAST colleague Sofia Kalu (also recently detained) delivered a list of demands to the UKBA challenging the way the asylum system often leaves women and their children without representation, destitute, unsafe and vulnerable.
3. Actions
3.1 We plan to demonstrate outside the Judicial Review on 17 th October – more details in the next update for those in Manchester who can come along.
3.2 Lydia and Bernard's campaign group really appreciate the generous donations which have already been made towards the legal costs but we still need to raise more so any further donations will be gratefully received. Please email <mailto:gapunit@gmail.com>gapunit@gmail.com for bank account details if you would like to contribute. All monies received will be used for legal costs only – if the case finishes before they are needed you will be alerted.
3.3 If your MP has made any promises in response to your communications, please follow them up with him/her. Once we know the outcome of the Judicial Review – or possibly earlier – we will let supporters know who else to lobby and provide model letters for guidance.
Lydia and Bernard want to thank all their supporters for your solidarity actions, prayers, donations and continued interest in their case.
Justice will be done!
Bernard Batey, still here, remains in detention (Posted 12/09/11)
I would like to thank everyone for their support during this stressful period of our life facing deportation, the injunction applied for on Friday was successful and the flight was cancelled. I am still in detention at Colnbrook IRC, at this stage the fight continue since the legal actions are still ongoing, Lydia is still in the community.
Hope to see you people out soon we love you all.
Bernard Batey & Lydia Besong
benbateyob@yahoo.co.uk
Lydia Besong and Bernard Batey Must Stay - Urgent Action Needed
At 7.30am today (Monday, 5th September) at least five UK Border Agency officers went to the home of Cameroon playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey at their home in Bury, Greater Manchester. They took Bernard from the address - Lydia was not at the house at the time.
Bernard is currently in Colnbrook IRC and Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Kenya Airways flight KQ526 @ 20:00 hrs Saturday 10th September 2011 from UK to Nairobi for onward transit to Cameroon.
The indications are that the UKBA want to deport Lydia as well.
It seems that the UKBA decided to reject their fresh evidence on August 17th but had not written to Lydia and Bernard or their solicitor to inform them of this decision. The first they knew about the decision was when their legal representative contacted the UKBA AFTER Bernard had been detained this morning.
Lydia and Bernard are human rights activists who had to leave Cameroon after being imprisoned and tortured. Lydia was also raped by a prison guard. They were persecuted in Cameroon because of their membership of the Southern Cameroon National Council, a peaceful pressure group which campaigns for the rights of the English speaking minority in Cameroon. An Amnesty International report in May confirmed that the regime of President Paul Biya continues to persecute the SCNC. Lydia and Bernard will be in grave danger if they are returned to Cameroon.
Full background for Lydia & Bernard can be found here . . . .
We need your urgent support. Please Email/Fax/Phone the following:
1) Email/Fax/Phone, Sam Okwulehie, Group Area Manager Kenya Airways. Urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Bernard Batey Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Kenya Airways flight KQ526 @ 20:00 hrs Saturday 10th September 2011 from UK to Nairobi for onward transit to Cameroon.
Download model letter BernardBateyKA.doc, you can copy/amend/compose your own.
Put as much pressure on this airline as you can, to make them consider if it's worth the damage to their reputation to continue as one of UKBA's deportation airlines.
E-mail: contact@kenya-airways.com
Fax: 020 8745 5027 (Or from outside the UK + 44 20 8745 5027)
Phone: 020 8759 7366 (Or from outside the UK + 44 20 8759 7366)
2) Email/Faxing Theresa May, Home Secretary
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stay the removal of Bernard Batey. Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Kenya Airways flight KQ526 @ 20:00 hrs Saturday 10th September 2011 from UK to Nairobi for onward transit to Cameroon. Release him from detention and to grant him protection in the UK.
Download model letter, BernardBateyTM.doc or alternatively write your own. Please remember to quote Bernard Batey's Home Office Reference number B1236372
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 Bernard Batey. Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Kenya Airways flight KQ526 @ 20:00 hrs Saturday 10th September 2011 from UK to Nairobi for onward transit to Cameroon.
Download model letter BernardBateyNickClegg.doc. You can copy, amend or write your own version - if you do please remember to include the following: Bernard Batey Home Office Reference: B1236372.
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
UKBA Set Deportation Date For Lydia Besong And Bernard Batey
Lydia and Bernard Must Stay Campaign
Press Release Tuesday 5th September 2011
For more information, please contact:
Rhetta Moran on 077 7626 4646 / rhetta.moran@yahoo.co.uk
or Kath Grant 078 1247 1047 / kath.northernstories@googlemail.co
Playwright's husband told he will be removed from UK on Saturday, September 10th
Campaigners demand to know why ukba procedures were not followed
The UK Border Agency is set to deport Cameroon playwright Lydia Besong's husband Bernard Batey on Saturday September 10th. Paperwork shows they are also attempting to deport Lydia on the same date.
Five UKBA officers went to their home in Bury early this morning, Monday 5th September and took away Bernard and the only set of keys to the house. Lydia was not at the house at the time.
Campaigners are demanding to know why Bernard was detained when the UKBA were still considering fresh evidence put forward by the couple's lawyer in July. There had been no indication to the couple or their legal representative that the new evidence had been rejected.
It was only when their lawyer phoned Dallas Court Reporting Centre to find out why Bernard had been detained that the UKBA said the further submissions had been turned down. The UKBA later faxed the legal representative with the reasons for rejection and removal instructions for Bernard.
It is now clear from the paperwork that the decision to reject the further submissions was taken on August 17th. Supporters want to know why the couple and their lawyer were not informed about this decision before UKBA officers swooped on their home at 7.30 am this morning.
A spokesperson for the human rights organisation RAPAR of which Bernard is a member said: "We are appalled by the actions of the UK Border Agency. They have known about this decision for almost a month yet they only chose to disclose the information when pressed by Lydia and Bernard's lawyer after Bernard had already been detained.
"This is yet another example of the UKBA failing to act within their own procedures."
Lawyers are now preparing to challenge the asylum decision and will ask for Bernard to be released on bail. Campaigners are sending letters, emails and faxes to the Home Secretary and Immigration Minister urging them to intervene in the case.
Lydia and Bernard were politically active in Cameroon with the SCNC, a pressure group which campaigns peacefully for independence for southern Cameroon and is persecuted by President Paul Biya's regime. They were both imprisoned and tortured in Cameroon and Lydia was raped by a prison guard.
Since then, their story has been the subject of hostile press reports in Cameroon and, in December 2009, a High Court judge granted an injunction to prevent them being deported and asked the UKBA to review their case.
Paul Rowen, former MP for Rochdale whose constituency they lived in for three years, said he had looked into the case in detail and was convinced it would be unsafe for the couple to be returned to Cameroon.
The RAPAR spokesperson added: "The UKBA is still seeking to deport Lydia and Bernard despite all the evidence which shows the violation of their human rights in Cameroon and the very grave danger they would be in if returned. It is a sad reflection if this country cannot give refuge to a couple who have been persecuted and tortured merely for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression."
Lydia and Bernard's many supporters include English PEN, the organisation which campaigns for writers who have been persecuted, the actor Juliet Stevenson, and the Bishop of Manchester who has written to the Home Secretary on the couple's behalf. An open letter sent to The Guardian in July by leading writers and actors raised concerns about Lydia's case
The couple are both members of the union Unite, Lydia is a long standing member of the management committee at WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together) , and both she and Bernard are members of RAPAR. They are also members of the Bury AcaPeelers Choir. Their campaign is backed by Community Arts North West, the GAP Unit and Commonword, the Manchester writers' organisation.
While they have been living in Bury, their MP David Nuttall has raised their case with Immigration Minister Damian Green and their supporters have sent hundreds of postcards and letters to the Home Secretary.
Background information
- In 2009/2010 Lydia was held in detention for four weeks over the Christmas period and she and Bernard were threatened with deportation. The flight was halted by a High Court judge and the UKBA said their case would be reviewed.
- In Cameroon, Lydia taught English and English Literature and Bernard ran his own business. They were forced to leave their home country because of their membership of the SCNC, a pressure group which campaigns for the rights of the English speaking minority of Southern Cameroon. The couple were imprisoned and tortured in Cameroon, they faced beatings and Lydia was raped by a uniformed prison guard. They have both been traumatised by these experiences and are subject to severe depression.
- Amnesty International's most recent report, published in May this year, says the Government in Cameroon continues to attempt to silence critics of its policies. "The Government continues to curtail the activities of the SCNC, a non violent secessionist group whose members face arrest and imprisonment."
- A writer in Cameroon was recently released following a strong campaign by Amnesty International. He had been held in extremely harsh prison conditions for six months after writing a book about the president's wife.
- Lydia has written three plays, one of which remains unpublished and is critical of President Paul Biya, who has ruled in Cameroon for 28 years. Her play "How I Became an Asylum Seeker" has been performed in Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and London. In London, she shared a platform with actor Juliet Stevenson in a discussion around issues raised by the play.
- Lydia and Bernard received strong backing from their former Rochdale MP Paul Rowen who said he knew their case well and believed there was a "real and substantial danger to Ms Besong and Mr Batey should they be returned to Cameroon."
- The couple lived in Rochdale for three years before being re-housed in Bury. They have widespread support in both communities and also in Manchester where they have worked as volunteers for human rights organisations. They are valued members of the congregation at St Ann's Church, Belfield, Rochdale, and the Bishop of Manchester has spoken out publicly on their behalf. They are also members of a community choir in Bury, the Bury AcaPeelers whose members have supported their campaign.
- Members of English PEN, the organisation which campaigns for writers and playwrights internationally, has backed Lydia and Bernard's fight to remain in the UK
RAPAR the Manchester based Human Rights Organisation
http://www.rapar.org.uk/index.html |