Alam Must Stay in Salford!

Who is Alam?
Alam is a father and husband who has lived in Salford for nearly three years with his wife Naima and his sons, Jubaer (9) and his baby Jamiul (18 months). Alam was a politician in Bangladesh when he had had to flee for his life because of his membership of the Freedom Party.

The papers issued for his deportation are dated 17th February and 28th February but Alam only received them as he was being detained at Dallas Court, Salford where he went to sign on yesterday. He was taken to Manchester Airport yesterday where he is being held. He is booked onto flight number GF4, taking off from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi at 11.00 on Tuesday 29.03.05..and then onto a connecting flight to Dhaka.

Alam must not be forced to a certain death in Bangladesh
Alam will be killed on arrival in Bangladesh. We know this because his Bangladesh lawyer wrote to Alam in a letter dated 25th January 2005: “two warrants of arrest have been issued against you, even in your absence. So it would not be wise to come back to Bangladesh at this moment…If you come back to Bangladesh now you will be arrested and put to trial immediately on your arrival…Not only that, the newly formed rapid action battalion (RAB) are indiscriminately killing political activists branded as criminals on the plea of cross fire. Since the letter of warrant is hanging on your head you may be killed by this special squad RAB without observing the due process of law. For your kind information, I let you know that one of your friends who was involved in the case [about Alam’s membership of the Freedom Party] has been killed by the RAB recently on the plea of cross fire without giving ay opportunity to defend himself legally. Circumstances being so grave I would advise you to stay where you are with your family to save your life until you get my clearance.”

On the basis of this letter received from his lawyer Mr Bernard Murphy local councilor for Broughton, Salford for the last 14 years is saying: We are asking Hazel Blears that a deferral of the removal direction be made so that copies of the arrest warrants issued against Alam can arrive in England, other documents can be translated and a fresh application made.
Bangladesh is not safe: On 24.02.05. High Court Judge, Mr Justice Wilson ruled that it was unlawful to include Bangladesh in the official white list of countries that they say it is safe to return people to. This is because, ruled Justice Wilson, “it was all too clear” that persecution and human rights abuse were not isolated problems at the margins of life in Bangladesh which was officially ranked as worst for corruption on an international Index.

By deporting Alam and separating him from his young family we fear that they will never see him again, especially bearing in mind the above situation. His wife is currently waiting to hear from the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture regarding her own personal situation and is also in fear of her life if she is deported to Bangladesh.

The Alam’s have consistently had poor representation during their asylum process. Their previous solicitor admitted to supporters of the family that he didn’t know what he was doing and has since moved on without informing the family. Documents that would have been used in their case have been mistranslated and lost, all of which has affected their case, though no fault of their own. It seems wrong to punish Alam and his family for the failings of their legal representative.



Alam has the support of his local community, including the head-teacher, staff, parents and children of Jubaer’s school, local churches in Salford, and many, many individual members of the local community as well as the support of the women’s officer and students from the University of Manchester.


Email messages of support to:

 alamfamilycampaign@yahoo.com

For further information contact:

Kate Byron on 07974 334245

OR

Frank McCabe on 07733406553







Hazel Blears
Jubilee House
51 The Crescent
Salford M5 4WX
Dear Ms Blears,

Re: removal of Zahangir Alam on 29th March (Home Office ref no A1145038).

I am writing to express my great concern regarding the removal plans for Zahangir Alam. Supporters of the Alam family have already been in correspondence with both yourself and the Home Office to stop previous removal directions.

We ask that you request deferal of removal directions, pending translation of fresh evidence with a view to submitting application for Fresh Claim if appropriate.

Alam has recently obtained several documents from Bangladesh to summit as new evidence for a new asylum claim, as advised by your secretary. This includes evidence of direct threats to his life. He is in the process of getting them translated officially further to advice from your office.

Bangladesh is not safe: On Thursday 24th February a high court judge ruled that it was unlawful to include Bangladesh in the official "white list" of countries it is safe to return people to. Mr Justice Wilson said that it was "all too clear" that persecution and human rights abuse were not isolated problems at the margins of life in Bangladesh, which was officially ranked as "worst for corruption on an international index".

Alam has been separated again from his wife and two small children, causing great and unjustified distress. If he is deported we fear that they will not be reunited and the destruction of this family would be terrible and cruel thing.

We ask therefore that you take the above points into consideration and defer this deportation until Alam is able to submit this new evidence.

Yours sincerely,

Sorry, the email for hte alam family campaign is  alamfamilycampaign@yahoo.co.uk NOT .com!

I have just found out that Zahangir Alam has been moved to Tinsley house Detention centre near Gatwick- it seems he is still to fly tommorrow from Heathrow at 11am.

Please fax gulf air on the above nos [ from other info on Zahangir Alam] or try finding an email for them.If you want to ring Zahangir he can be contacted at Tinsley house on 01293 434 800.

the nos to Gulf air is 0870 777 1717- they were very polite but said they were unable to help- but it might make a difference if enough people call. They also gave the heathrow office nos which is shut till tommorrow morning[ they said 9.30 am] the nos is 0870 777 1715- but fax is still probably best if you have fax- see details on this page

I am very sorry to hear Alam got deported despite all efforts and six of us going to the airport. Is there anything we can do to stop the deportaion of his wife and two little children?

Dad Alam was deported last night.