Please help Sima Valand to remain in the UK

You can help Sima by taking the time to email or fax a letter to the Home Office and to Virgin Airways using the model letters below:-

CEO Steve Ridgeway
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Manor Royal
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 9NU
Fax: 01293 444124
Email:  customer.services@fly.virgin.com

11th August 2009

Dear Mr Ridgeway,
Re: Sima Valand due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Tuesday 11.08.09, on
Virgin Atlantic Airlines flight*
Sima is unlikely to survive with any dignity if removed to India. Indeed, her
life will be at considerable risk if she is returned due to her status as a
divorced woman which carries immense stigma. In India, women who are divorced or
separated are treated as outcasts and vilified and there is no social welfare
system to help them survive. She will be subject to abuse, harassment and
violence from which she will not be adequately protected by State institutions,
such as the police, because they have the same social values with regards to
women in this position.
Sima arrived in the UK, from India, legally in 2006 with her husband. During the
15 years of their marriage Sima was subjected to frequent verbal, physical and
sexual abuse by her husband. Following their arrival in the UK, the violence
escalated. It culminated in a horrific rape in May 2008. The attack was so
severe that Sima made the decision to report it to the police.
While her husband was on bail, the threat to Sima was sufficient to force her to
move to another city for her safety. She was subjected to frequent death threats
from the husband and from his family in the UK and in India because she was
pursuing the court case. In spite of this, Sima continued with the case and her
husband was eventually convicted and given a lengthy prison sentence.
As a result of the persecution, Sima applied for asylum on the grounds that she
had a genuine fear of being killed by her husband or his family if she were
returned to India. Before she left India, she had been treated as a slave and
beaten by her husband’s family. Their treatment of her was so bad that she
attempted suicide. Her husband’s jail sentence and the fact that she has begun
divorce proceedings are seen as publicly shaming her husband's family and have
exacerbated their desire to take revenge. Her in-laws have contacted her on
frequent occasions to tell her that they will cut her up and kill her if she
returns to India.
India has a deeply entrenched patriarchal system and women are expected to
conform to a strict social code. As a result, although it is Sima’s husband who
has been responsible for appallingly violent behaviour, it is Sima’s action in
reporting that behaviour and giving evidence against him that is considered
shameful amongst her family and the community as a whole.
It is extremely common in India that incidents of serious domestic violence
against women are not taken seriously. The police and courts are often unwilling
to intervene in such matters and frequently help the husbands' families to
destroy evidence of murder or register murdered women as suicides. Amnesty
International have noted that it is very difficult for women to seek justice
through the criminal justice system in India and that women victims of crime are
at a severe disadvantage. This means that it is highly unlikely that Sima will
get the protection that she needs should she be returned. Indeed, there have
been many cases where women from South Asia countries have been sent back to
them by their families to be murdered as it is thought to be easier to get away
with such crimes there.
Sima was born and brought up in Sudan although she is of Indian origin and has
an Indian passport. She has few family members in India and following the court
case, even these ties have deteriorated. The Home Office have argued that Sima
could live with her uncle if she is returned to India. However, the details of
the rape case have become widely known and he will no longer speak to her.
Sima’s in-laws in India are aware of Sima’s movements and since being given a
removal notice she has received threatening messages stating that they know she
is about to be removed from the UK and that they will track her down. Experts on
so-called 'honour crimes' point to the existence of informal community networks
that exist to track down and punish, with death if necessary, women who are
perceived as having shamed the community. Sima will be at great risk if she is
returned.
The UK Home Office says it is up to the carrier, whether they carry deportees.
Please do not deport Sima Valand - she is at risk of being seriously harmed if
not killed by her husband’s family should she be returned to India. Please do
not carry out the UK’s enforcement policies which put people at risk in this
way.

Yours sincerely
Name:

Address:
* The exact flight details are being withheld from publicly circulated documents
for Sima’s protection

-------------------------
Rt. Hon Alan Johnson, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd Floor, Peel Buildings
2 Marsham St
London
SW1 4DF
 Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Fax: 020 8760 3132 / + 44 20 8760 3132

Dear Home Secretary
Sima Valand (HO Ref A1374200) is currently detained in Yarlswood IRC and due to
be forcibly removed from the UK on Tuesday 11th August 2009 on a Virgin Atlantic
Airways flight*
Sima is unlikely to survive with any dignity if removed to India. Indeed, her
life will be at considerable risk if she is returned due to her status as a
divorced woman which carries immense stigma. In India, women who are divorced or
separated are treated as outcasts and vilified and there is no social welfare
system to help them survive. She will be subject to abuse, harassment and
violence from which she will not be adequately protected by State institutions,
such as the police, because they have the same social values with regards to
women in this position.
Sima arrived in the UK, from India, legally in 2006 with her husband. During the
15 years of their marriage Sima was subjected to frequent verbal, physical and
sexual abuse by her husband. Following their arrival in the UK, the violence
escalated. It culminated in a horrific rape in May 2008. The attack was so
severe that Sima made the decision to report it to the police.
While her husband was on bail, the threat to Sima was sufficient to force her to
move to another city for her safety. She was subjected to frequent death threats
from the husband and from his family in the UK and in India because she was
pursuing the court case. In spite of this, Sima continued with the case and her
husband was eventually convicted and given a lengthy prison sentence.
As a result of the persecution, Sima applied for asylum on the grounds that she
had a genuine fear of being killed by her husband or his family if she were
returned to India. Before she left India, she had been treated as a slave and
beaten by her husband’s family. Their treatment of her was so bad that she
attempted suicide. Her husband’s jail sentence and the fact that she has begun
divorce proceedings are seen as publicly shaming her husband's family and have
exacerbated their desire to take revenge. Her in-laws have contacted her on
frequent occasions to tell her that they will cut her up and kill her if she
returns to India.
India has a deeply entrenched patriarchal system and women are expected to
conform to a strict social code. As a result, although it is Sima’s husband who
has been responsible for appallingly violent behaviour, it is Sima’s action in
reporting that behaviour and giving evidence against him that is considered
shameful amongst her family and the community as a whole.
It is extremely common in India that incidents of serious domestic violence
against women are not taken seriously. The police and courts are often unwilling
to intervene in such matters and frequently help the husbands' families to
destroy evidence of murder or register murdered women as suicides. Amnesty
International have noted that it is very difficult for women to seek justice
through the criminal justice system in India and that women victims of crime are
at a severe disadvantage. This means that it is highly unlikely that Sima will
get the protection that she needs should she be returned. Indeed, there have
been many cases where women from South Asian countries have been sent back by
their families to be murdered as it is thought to be easier to get away with
such crimes there.
Sima was born and brought up in Sudan although she is of Indian origin and has
an Indian passport. She has few family members in India and following the court
case, even these ties have deteriorated. The Home Office have argued that Sima
could live with her uncle if she is returned to India. However, the details of
the rape case have become widely known and he will no longer speak to her.
Sima’s in-laws in India are aware of Sima’s movements and since being given a
removal notice she has received threatening messages stating that they know she
is about to be removed from the UK and that they will track her down. Experts on
so-called 'honour crimes' point to the existence of informal community networks
that exist to track down and punish, with death if necessary, women who are
perceived as having shamed the community. Sima will be at great risk if she is
returned.
In light of the horrific experiences that Sima has been through, I hope that you
will exercise your discretion and stay the removal of Sima Valand and also grant
Sima protection in the UK.
Yours Sincerely,

Name:
Date:
Address:
* The exact flight details are being withheld from publicly circulated documents
for Sima’s protection