Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Keep Patrick Masengo in the UK, no removals to DR Congo

John O | 03.02.2009 10:51 | Migration | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Birmingham | World

[UKBA have resumed removals of refused persons from DR Congo, seeking asylum in the UK; DR Congo is still deemed to be the 3rd most dangerous country in the world]

Patrick Masengo, a national of DR Congo and resident of Rotherham, currently detained in Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, is due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Thursday 5th February at 19.00 hrs on Kenyan Airways Flights KQ101 to Nairobi and onwards to DR Congo.

[Kenya Airways flight KQ101 a daily fight from the UK to Africa, has now become notorious for alleged abuse handed out to removees by escorts forcing them onto these flights]

Patrick was a long-time active member of the UDPS opposition party. In September 2006, he stood for election as an MP in his province of Lubumbashi, Katanga in the DR Congo. Patrick lost the election, which he claims was rigged, and he and some UDPS colleagues started to mount a legal challenge to the election result. Patrick was also campaigning against the government's illicit trading in cobalt at this time. Following this, in November 2006, Patrick was arrested and detained by the government security forces, during which time he claims to have been tortured and abused, and denied all legal representation and visitors rights. However, after 5 months, he managed to pay an agent to bribe his way out of the detention centre and fly him to Britain to seek asylum. Since that time, based on correspondence with people back in Lubumbashi, Patrick claims to have a member of his family killed, his shop looted, and his house guarded by soldiers. He is highly worried that, upon being returned to Kinshasa, the Congolese government will detain and abuse him once again.

The Home Office accept that Patrick did indeed stand as a UDPS MP in the 2006 elections, but have regrettably refused to accept large elements of Patrick's story as credible. They argue that there is no proof of electoral fraud, that his stories about campaigning against the election result and cobalt trade are not credible, that they find it unlikely that he would have been refused legal representation in detention, and that the story of his escape is not realistic. Twice - during the initial refusal and during Patrick's asylum tribunal in July 2007 - the Home Office have also argued that DR Congo is now safe for 'low level' UDPS political activists.

Since Patrick arrived in the UK in March 2007, he has lived in Leeds and Rotherham. In each place, he has readily become involved in a variety of community activities: a community music group, college courses, and a local church (Ark of Victory) in south Leeds. He was popular with many people - and indeed, when a Home Office ruling left him homeless in 2008, he spent over a month lodging with us - and we found him to be impeccably helpful, positive and upstanding.

What you can do to help / Please take urgent action now

1) Fax/phone, Sam Okwulehie, Group Area Manager Kenya Airways and urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Patrick Masengo - you can use the model fax 'Patrick MasengoKA.doc' attached. You can copy, amend or write your own version - please quote,  Patrick Masengo due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Thursday 5th February at 19.00 hrs on Kenyan Airways Flights KQ101 to Nairobi and onwards to DR Congo.

Fax: 020 8745 5027 - from outside the UK + 44 20 8745 5027
Phone: 020 8759 7366 - from outside the UK + 44 20 8759 7366

2) Please send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Patrick Masengo be granted protection in the UK. Please use the attached "model letter" (PatrickMasengo JS.doc) which you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include his HO ref: M1347893.

Email addresses:
 UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
"CIT - Treat Official"  CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk>

Fax Number: 020 8760 3132

Please let the campaign coordinator of an emails/faxes sent:
Free Patrick Masengo
c/o Together for Peace
'The Fred Shed'
45 Westfield Road
Leeds LS3 1DG
079 1715 7830
Tania Salvesen

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:

  Free Patrick Masengo Campaign

John O
- e-mail: JohnO@ncadc.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.ncadc.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following comment

Solidarity with Patrick

03.02.2009 15:43

We just had a picket at Communications House IRC in London and encouraged people who came to take the letters to Kenya airlines (which btw both links seem to go to) and have faxed a few of them off now.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech