Refugee family forcibly taken by police in bullet proof vests - urgent action!
Liverpool Indymedia | 28.03.2007 19:54 | Anti-racism | Migration | Repression | Liverpool
At 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning (27th March) Jannatul Chowdhury and her children were suddenly and violently arrested at dawn and taken by van to a cell in Reliance House Water Street where they were held until they were again taken by van to Yarls Wood detention centre where they are currently imprisoned and facing imminent deportation on Sunday April 1st. Such treatment is outrageous in a so-called ‘civilised’ society.
Jannatul Chowdhury and her family
Jannatul Chowdhury fled from Bangladesh two and half years ago with her family. Her children Ishtiaque and Nazifa were kidnapped by members of the leading political party of Bangladesh leaving Jannatul and her husband Naushad no choice other than to pay the ransom. Despite being victims of such a dreadful crime the authorities refused to take any action over the kidnapping which left the family living in permanent fear and with the belief that they could never again be safe there. So they fled to Britain to seek asylum.
Naushad, Jannatul’s husband died of a heart attack in December 2005. Nauchad is buried in Liverpool tying the family strongly to the area.
Despite the trauma they suffered from the kidnapping, the tragic death of their father, the stress caused by the immigration system such as enforced dispersal to different houses in Liverpool, surviving on the meagre NASS support all this both children are doing very well in school. All the pupils and staff at Childwall Sports College are distraught at what has happened and cannot understand why this is happening. Yet Liam Byrne has decided that they do not have the right to stay here. After her husband’s death Jannatul had to take on the family’s asylum claim and it was subsequently refused.
In Liverpool Jannatul has been assisting voluntarily with ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes at Asylum Link Merseyside and regularly cooks for other asylum seekers who are in need. She also writes for a local newsletter/magazine for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. And she been actively campaigning for her own family’s right to stay and also for the rights of others seeking asylum in the Asylum Voice (of the undocumented) campaign group in Liverpool which was set up and is led by asylum seekers and others who are undocumented.
There are other concerns related to Jannatul and her family :
* Jannatul is scheduled for surgery on the 3rd April to explore severe abdominal pain – a condition that will be worsened by this terrifying ordeal and her daughter Nazifa was due to see a consultant at Alder Hey Neurological Clinic for very serious migraine and eye problems which have also been getting worse.
* Her son Ishtiaque did remarkably well in his GCSE’s, is working towards his AS levels and is set for a university place.
Jannatul has slowly rebuilt her life and that of her children through hard work, perseverance and with the support of all the communities around her. To send this family back to Bangladesh is cruel and inhuman. To terrorise children and remove them and their mother is an appalling endightment of this government and its cruel immigration system. It is nothing to do with justice or fairness it is a racist system which is only concerned with achieving targets.
We must end this madness and stop a DEPORTATION EVERY 26 minutes which Liam Byrne boasts he is achieving!
What you can do to help: quote HO ref: C1167819
• Write to Liam Byrne MP, Home Office, Peel Building 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Email
byrnel@parliament.uk Tel: 0121 789 7287Fax: 020 7035 4745 from outside the UK + 44 20 7035 4745
• Contact British Airways and demand that they do not collude in the forced removal of this family
Flight Details – BA0145 from Heathrow to Dhaka 15.25 1st April
Tel 0870 850 9850 Email: webformuk@email.ba.com
• Louise Ellman MP Tel 0151 236 4301 London fax 020 7219 2592 email: ellmanl@parliament.uk
Naushad, Jannatul’s husband died of a heart attack in December 2005. Nauchad is buried in Liverpool tying the family strongly to the area.
Despite the trauma they suffered from the kidnapping, the tragic death of their father, the stress caused by the immigration system such as enforced dispersal to different houses in Liverpool, surviving on the meagre NASS support all this both children are doing very well in school. All the pupils and staff at Childwall Sports College are distraught at what has happened and cannot understand why this is happening. Yet Liam Byrne has decided that they do not have the right to stay here. After her husband’s death Jannatul had to take on the family’s asylum claim and it was subsequently refused.
In Liverpool Jannatul has been assisting voluntarily with ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes at Asylum Link Merseyside and regularly cooks for other asylum seekers who are in need. She also writes for a local newsletter/magazine for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. And she been actively campaigning for her own family’s right to stay and also for the rights of others seeking asylum in the Asylum Voice (of the undocumented) campaign group in Liverpool which was set up and is led by asylum seekers and others who are undocumented.
There are other concerns related to Jannatul and her family :
* Jannatul is scheduled for surgery on the 3rd April to explore severe abdominal pain – a condition that will be worsened by this terrifying ordeal and her daughter Nazifa was due to see a consultant at Alder Hey Neurological Clinic for very serious migraine and eye problems which have also been getting worse.
* Her son Ishtiaque did remarkably well in his GCSE’s, is working towards his AS levels and is set for a university place.
Jannatul has slowly rebuilt her life and that of her children through hard work, perseverance and with the support of all the communities around her. To send this family back to Bangladesh is cruel and inhuman. To terrorise children and remove them and their mother is an appalling endightment of this government and its cruel immigration system. It is nothing to do with justice or fairness it is a racist system which is only concerned with achieving targets.
We must end this madness and stop a DEPORTATION EVERY 26 minutes which Liam Byrne boasts he is achieving!
What you can do to help: quote HO ref: C1167819
• Write to Liam Byrne MP, Home Office, Peel Building 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
byrnel@parliament.uk Tel: 0121 789 7287Fax: 020 7035 4745 from outside the UK + 44 20 7035 4745 • Contact British Airways and demand that they do not collude in the forced removal of this family
Flight Details – BA0145 from Heathrow to Dhaka 15.25 1st April
Tel 0870 850 9850 Email:
webformuk@email.ba.com • Louise Ellman MP Tel 0151 236 4301 London fax 020 7219 2592 email:
ellmanl@parliament.uk
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