14-year old Meltem and her mother must be released from Yarl's Wood!
SOAS Detainee Support Group | 22.10.2007 12:54
Meltem, the 14-year old girl that wrote a letter from yarlswood 2 weeks ago has just been refused bail again. She and her mother have now been in detention for 2 months and allthough they had two sureties and are currently waiting for the outcome of their judicial review their bail application got refused again.
Cennet doesn't speak much English so 14-year old Meltem has to handle everything herself- speaking to the guards in Yarlswood, their solicitor etc.. If she stays in detention for much longer she might not be able to do her GCSEs next year.
Meltem and her family arrived in the UK in September 2001 and claimed asylum the same day. They were fleeing from Germany after Germany had decided to deport the family back to Turkey where they were facing persecution as politically active Kurds.
Their application was refused on the grounds that Germany is a safe country. Meltems father, Avcil left the family in 2006 and Meltem and her mother Cennet claimed asylum in their own right but were refused again. The family was detained for the first time in 2005 for 3 days. when Meltem was 12 years old. Since then she has been living in fear of being detained again since. She wrote in a letter:
“There is a big difference between asylum child and child who has leave to remain in UK. I never thought they were different. When a friend asks you 'can you come to my party next week?' the child that is an asylum seeker thinks first: what is going to happen tomorrow? All day all night always asking them, what is going to happen? But when it comes to the party day. You feel nothing happened. Why do I have to live with this feeling all the time? And you start thinking about that as well you think the questions get more and more you can't concentrate on your work.
On the 27 August 2007, one week before school was going to start again for Meltem, they were detained again. Immigration officials woke them up by hammering on their door in the morning and did not even allow Meltem to say goodbye to her friend that was staying over at her house that night. Meltem and Cennet have been in detention since.
Please help by writing to / faxing Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office, demanding that Meltem and Cennet be released from Yarl's Wood immediately and that they be allowed to stay in the UK. Please use the attached 'model letter' or, even better, you can write your own version
Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd. Floor
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1 4DF
Fax : 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
Please let the SOAS Detainee Support Group know of any letters/ faxes you send:
theresa.schleicher@hotmail.co.uk
Thanks a lot
Theresa Schleicher
Their application was refused on the grounds that Germany is a safe country. Meltems father, Avcil left the family in 2006 and Meltem and her mother Cennet claimed asylum in their own right but were refused again. The family was detained for the first time in 2005 for 3 days. when Meltem was 12 years old. Since then she has been living in fear of being detained again since. She wrote in a letter:
“There is a big difference between asylum child and child who has leave to remain in UK. I never thought they were different. When a friend asks you 'can you come to my party next week?' the child that is an asylum seeker thinks first: what is going to happen tomorrow? All day all night always asking them, what is going to happen? But when it comes to the party day. You feel nothing happened. Why do I have to live with this feeling all the time? And you start thinking about that as well you think the questions get more and more you can't concentrate on your work.
On the 27 August 2007, one week before school was going to start again for Meltem, they were detained again. Immigration officials woke them up by hammering on their door in the morning and did not even allow Meltem to say goodbye to her friend that was staying over at her house that night. Meltem and Cennet have been in detention since.
Please help by writing to / faxing Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office, demanding that Meltem and Cennet be released from Yarl's Wood immediately and that they be allowed to stay in the UK. Please use the attached 'model letter' or, even better, you can write your own version
Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd. Floor
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1 4DF
Fax : 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
Please let the SOAS Detainee Support Group know of any letters/ faxes you send:
theresa.schleicher@hotmail.co.uk Thanks a lot
Theresa Schleicher
SOAS Detainee Support Group