Keep Veneera & her Children Safe in Swansea
John O | 29.10.2007 10:36 | Migration | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements
Mrs Veneera Aliyeva and her children are Baptists from Azerbaijan with Armenian ethnicity. Veneera has suffered persecution on both accounts: as an individual of mixed ethnicity in a country known to persecute its Armenian minority and as a Christian in an intolerant Muslim country.
At 7:00 am on 28th October Immigration Officers arrived at her Swansea home and took her and her children to Yarl's Wood IRC. She is due to be removed to Azerbaijan on Thursday 1st November on BMI Flight BD 929 @13.35 hours on Thursday, 1st Nov. 2007 from Heathrow to Baku.
We feel strongly that Veneera and her family should be allowed leave to remain on compassionate grounds. Her mother was a Christian Armenian who married an Azeri in Baku. After fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1988 her parents fled to Russia because of growing hostility to Armenians. Veneera also married an Azeri who knew about her ethnicity but kept it from his wider family and friends. Their children were born at home to avoid registration as Armenians but in 1997 she was seen visiting her mother's grave in an Armenian graveyard in Baku. Years of harassment for the whole family followed. In March 2000 Veneera was secretly baptised in the Baptist church in Baku. In April 2002 police took the congregation to the police station where they were interviewed separately. Veneera was accused of abusing Islam, hit and then raped twice, including violent anal rape. She hid all this from her husband. The church was closed.
The harassment continued and she persuaded her husband to flee the country on 31 December 2002, arriving in the UK on 13 January 2003. They claimed asylum because of ethnic persecution. This was not taken seriously and on 2 June 2005 the family was returned to Azerbaijan.
On arrival her husband was taken away in handcuffs. Veneera was beaten in front of the children and spent 5 days in hospital. (She has a medical report of this). The press published her name and photograph, accusing her of being a public enemy, of misrepresenting Azerbaijan to the UK, of being a terrorist and creating disputes between Azeris and Armenians. When discharged from hospital she suffered further discrimination and harassment and, without birth certificates, found it impossible to register her children for school and medical care.
Veneera and the children again sought safety in the UK and arrived in Swansea on 20 May 2006. Veneera is being treated for deep anxiety, severe panic attacks, dizziness and sleep disorders. She has the concerned support of her consultant. Her son has also been receiving psychiatric care and medication and has been slowly improving. They have settled very well in their community with Anna and Murat doing well at school despite Murat's psychological problems.
However the Home Office refused to believe that Veneera's experiences were due to either her faith or her ethnicity. On 8 September 2007, while she was appealing the HO refusal, Immigration came to take them to detention. Although they were eventually released the shock has left Veneera suicidal and her son falling apart. Their solicitor made fuller Further Representations. The family did not realise these had been refused until Immigration unlocked the door at 7 am on Sunday 28th October. We do not, at present, know the grounds of the refusal. There is ample evidence to show that Azerbaijan is safe for neither Armenians nor Christians.
What you can do to help!
1.) Please send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Veneera Aliyeva & children be granted protection in the UK. Please use the attached "model letter" Veneera AliyevaJS.doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref 1293538).
Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
2.) Please fax Nigel Turner, Chief Executive Officer BMI Airways, asking that BMI should not facilitate Home Office enforcement policies, using the attached "model letter" (VeneeraValiyevaBMI .doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version, if you do so, please remember to include the removal flight details: BMI Flight BD 929 @13.35 hours on Thursday, 1st Nov. 2007 from Heathrow to Baku.
Fax: Fax:: 01332 854875 from outside the UK: + 44 1332 854875
Please email copies of any faxes sent to:
Please inform the campaign of any faxes sent.
Friends of Veneera
C/o The Retreat
2 Humphrey St
Swansea
SA1 6BG
Jeni Williams:
jeninswan@hotmail.com
Keith Ross: keithmalcolm@ntlworld.com
End of Bulletin:
Source for this Message:
Friends of Veneera
We feel strongly that Veneera and her family should be allowed leave to remain on compassionate grounds. Her mother was a Christian Armenian who married an Azeri in Baku. After fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1988 her parents fled to Russia because of growing hostility to Armenians. Veneera also married an Azeri who knew about her ethnicity but kept it from his wider family and friends. Their children were born at home to avoid registration as Armenians but in 1997 she was seen visiting her mother's grave in an Armenian graveyard in Baku. Years of harassment for the whole family followed. In March 2000 Veneera was secretly baptised in the Baptist church in Baku. In April 2002 police took the congregation to the police station where they were interviewed separately. Veneera was accused of abusing Islam, hit and then raped twice, including violent anal rape. She hid all this from her husband. The church was closed.
The harassment continued and she persuaded her husband to flee the country on 31 December 2002, arriving in the UK on 13 January 2003. They claimed asylum because of ethnic persecution. This was not taken seriously and on 2 June 2005 the family was returned to Azerbaijan.
On arrival her husband was taken away in handcuffs. Veneera was beaten in front of the children and spent 5 days in hospital. (She has a medical report of this). The press published her name and photograph, accusing her of being a public enemy, of misrepresenting Azerbaijan to the UK, of being a terrorist and creating disputes between Azeris and Armenians. When discharged from hospital she suffered further discrimination and harassment and, without birth certificates, found it impossible to register her children for school and medical care.
Veneera and the children again sought safety in the UK and arrived in Swansea on 20 May 2006. Veneera is being treated for deep anxiety, severe panic attacks, dizziness and sleep disorders. She has the concerned support of her consultant. Her son has also been receiving psychiatric care and medication and has been slowly improving. They have settled very well in their community with Anna and Murat doing well at school despite Murat's psychological problems.
However the Home Office refused to believe that Veneera's experiences were due to either her faith or her ethnicity. On 8 September 2007, while she was appealing the HO refusal, Immigration came to take them to detention. Although they were eventually released the shock has left Veneera suicidal and her son falling apart. Their solicitor made fuller Further Representations. The family did not realise these had been refused until Immigration unlocked the door at 7 am on Sunday 28th October. We do not, at present, know the grounds of the refusal. There is ample evidence to show that Azerbaijan is safe for neither Armenians nor Christians.
What you can do to help!
1.) Please send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Veneera Aliyeva & children be granted protection in the UK. Please use the attached "model letter" Veneera AliyevaJS.doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref 1293538).
Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
2.) Please fax Nigel Turner, Chief Executive Officer BMI Airways, asking that BMI should not facilitate Home Office enforcement policies, using the attached "model letter" (VeneeraValiyevaBMI .doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version, if you do so, please remember to include the removal flight details: BMI Flight BD 929 @13.35 hours on Thursday, 1st Nov. 2007 from Heathrow to Baku.
Fax: Fax:: 01332 854875 from outside the UK: + 44 1332 854875
Please email copies of any faxes sent to:
Please inform the campaign of any faxes sent.
Friends of Veneera
C/o The Retreat
2 Humphrey St
Swansea
SA1 6BG
Jeni Williams:
jeninswan@hotmail.com Keith Ross:
keithmalcolm@ntlworld.com End of Bulletin:
Source for this Message:
Friends of Veneera
John O
e-mail:
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk