Alam family antideportation campaign - help needed

Alam is a father and husband who has lived in Salford for nearly three years with his wife Naima and his sons, Jubaer (10) 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.”

We are asking that people fax the airline to get them to refuse to carry out the governments dirty work for them.

We are also planning to be at the airport prior to the deportation on Tuesday morning. As the campaign is based in MAnchester any one in London who would be interested in helping please contact the alams on the below email.

Text for airline fax follows:


To : Rohan Alce and James Hogan
Fax No. : 0208 600 7460

Forced Removal of Zahangir Alam on Flight GF4 Tuesday 29th April, 11am

Dear Mr Rohan Alce and Mr James Hogan,

We commend the pilots and other crew of various airlines who have stopped a number of forced removals of asylum seekers - they have shown compassion and regard for their passengers' safety.

We ask Gulf Air to stop an attempt to remove Alam on Tuesday 29th March.

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.
His wife and children are not being removed at the same time as him and it is unlikely that they will ever be reunited once he has been deported to Bangladesh as his only limited recourse to safety will be to try to go into hiding. We feel that separating Alam from his young family violates their human rights and would make your airline complicit in this injustice.
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.”

Bangladesh is an unsafe country, especially for political activists. 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.
Fresh evidence for Alam is currently being translated and material for a new asylum claim being prepared. It would be wrong for Alam to be deported whilst this process is still underway
Some airlines have a company policy not to carry out forced removals and I hope Gulf Air will follow suit.

The UK newspaper The Guardian reported on December 13th 2003 that "Belgium suspended its policy of forcibly deporting failed asylum seekers until further notice yesterday" following the death during removal of a Nigerian woman.

Please act with humanity

Regards,