Monday, February 09, 2009

Justice for Elizabeth Kiwunga Rushamba

Update: this link creates an email for you to send to Phil Woolas MP to ask for his support.

A Ugandan mother of two who sought asylum in Britain has had her final appeal turned down. Elizabeth Kiwunga Rushamba's life is in danger if she returns to Uganda, where there is medical evidence that she was raped and tortured by government officials because of her husbands political views.

Recently posted on the Facebook site campaigning for her to stay:
Elizabeth had the results from her hearing yesterday (4th February), she has lost her appeal. Everyone is devastated and stunned (she had such a strong case). Elizabeth is broken, I saw her yesterday and it is heart-breaking. She has one final option in the legal system - the European Courts. This could be a long battle, Elizabeth and her 'family' (she is regarded as a daughter by the people she lives with) are exhausted emotionally. Please help them by writing or emailing your MEPs/Senators.

More background to the story here. Also at the New Statesman, some of the history at the National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaigns,

from the New Statesman piece:
In the week that the solicitor of an eight-year-old Iranian boy, having challenged the legality of his detention, secured his release from Yarl's Wood at the high court, 36 other children remained in detention. Marie, who "celebrated" her third birthday in Yarl's Wood, and her baby brother, John, are two of them. They are the children of Elizabeth Kiwunga Rushamba, a Ugandan asylum-seeker, and this is Marie's second stay. Children can only be held for more than 28 days with ministerial authorisation: by the time I visited, Marie and John had been in for 57. With Elizabeth's bail application pending, she has no idea how long they will be incarcerated.

The Minister of State for Borders and Immigration is Phil Woolas, who you can email direct here. Elizabeth's Reference. No. is 47948107. Home office contacts are public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or Home Office, Direct Communications Unit, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.

I know a lot of folks in Darlington who are involved in this campaign, I can't believe this country is so inhumane. This is the local community work Hazel Blears was talking about last week, but it just shows how little notice the system really takes of us when we don't follow its agenda.

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