Unity Centre Glasgow

Please Help Maurice Sango HO Ref S1383078

28 year old Maurice Sango was detained on Monday 28^th January 2008 when he went to report at the Home Office in Glasgow. They have issued directions for him to be forcibly removed from the UK on Thursday.

Maurice fled Zimbabwe in July 2007 after repeated problems with the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) because Maurice was a rural ward executive member in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and was responsible for mobilising young people.

In December 2006 Maurice was in a group of MDC members who were arrested by Zanu PF militias and members of the CIO beaten badly and held for a week.

In April 2007 his house was burnt down whilst Maurice was away and his fiancée and child was beaten by the security forces who were looking for him and for information about the MDC.

Shortly after, on his wedding night on 9^th June, the CIO cam looking for him again and made threats to kill him.

On 15^th June Maurice left Zimbabwe for the Republic of South Africa but there he was threatened with arrest and with being returned to Zimbabwe so with the help of an agent, Maurice used someone else’s South African passport to come to Britain.

He says “In my mind, since I was a teenager, I only knew one country that could guarantee my safety, Britain.”

In the UK Maurice had his asylum case refused because the Home Office believe he is not from Zimbabwe but from South Africa because the passport he used was a genuine passport.

However Maurice had an appointment today to see his lawyer who was just about to lodge fresh evidence that he was from Zimbabwe but unfortunately he was detained before he could do this.

Usually people detained in Scotland are held in Dungavel for a few days so they can speak to their Scottish lawyers before being taken to a detention centre closer to Heathrow or Gatwick airports in England. Unfortunately for Maurice an outbreak of ‘mumps’ at Dungavel meant that instead, he was transported to Manchester airport yesterday evening before his lawyer had a chance to act for him.

With the help of the Zimbabwean Association in London, friends and supporters in Glasgow have managed to find a new lawyer who will visit Maurice tomorrow in Campsfield detention centre near Oxford, where Maurice is being taken today.

However we need urgent action to be taken now to help stop Maurice’s removal.

What you can do:

1. Fax letters of support to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking the removal be stopped and he is released. Please remember to include the HO Ref: S1383078).

To: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Buildings, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF,

Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)

2. Please fax or phone Virgin Airlines asking them not to take this man as he will be in danger if returned to Zimbabwe.

Head Office Virgin Atlantic Head Office 01293 562345

Virgin Atlantic PO Box 747 Dunstable LU6 9AH UK Fax: 08701 900959.

Advanced Passenger Information 0870 190 0950

Model fax for airline MSanguAirlineFax

Model Fax for Jacqui Smith MSAnguJSmithFax

RAHILA AZAM and family - HO Ref A1346141

Rahila Azam and her four children, Isha (7yrs) Mohammed Adam (6) Mohammed Ali (5) and Mohammed Choudary (11 months) were detained on 27th November last year when reporting in Glasgow. The Home Office intended to remove her to Pakistan on 10th December but swift action from her lawyer managed to stop this. The family are currently in Yarlswood detention centre.

After the removal flight had been stopped, friends and supporters in Glasgow applied for bail for Rahila and her children but this was refused by the Judge.

Rahila fled Pakistan 12 months ago to escape her husband. Married to him since 1997 Rahila was subject to beatings from both her husband and from his parents from when she was pregnant with her first child. She went to live with her parents after her husband took a second wife in May last year, but her father died of a heart attack ten days later and her husband came to the house and abducted the two eldest children. Her brother managed to arrange for her to come to the UK with her other children.

Since she has been in the UK Rahila received a report that her husband had returned to her mother’s house and had shot her mother and her brother dead. She is terrified that the same fate may await her if she is returned to Pakistan.

The family were given a fresh removal date for Sunday 13th January (two days ago) but Rahila was so ill with asthma and panic attacks that she did not get on the plane. Her lawyer has also made fresh representations.

She has now been given a new removal date for tomorrow Wednesday 16th January on flight PK701 from Heathrow to Lahore at 18.00 hrs.

We are urgently trying to arrange for the lawyer to apply for a judicial review of the decision to remove Rahila to Pakistan but urgently need your help as well. Rahila is still very unwell and friends and supporters are deeply concerned about this new attempt to remove her and her children.

What you can do:

1. Fax letters of support to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking the removal be stopped and the children be released. Please remember to include the HO Ref: A1346141). To: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Buildings, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF,

Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)

2. Please fax or phone Pakistani International Airlines asking them not to take this family as they will be in danger if returned to Pakistan.

Pakistan International Airlines (PK) (Heathrow)

Main Telephone: 020-8283 0901

Main Fax No: 020-8897 2535

Email: lhrkkpk@piac.com.pk

Even if you can’t fax - please phone and leave a message saying you are concerned about thehealth and well being of the family.

One of the two Somalian women detained when reporting at the beginning of December is now safely back in Glasgow.

Saynab Abdullami, who is almost six months pregnant, had been given a removal date for tomorrow (Wednesday 16th January) to Somalia but managed to stop this after she lodged a case at the European Court of Human Rights.

She was released on Friday and came into the Unity Centre yesterday to thank everyone for their help.

Saynab’s flat-mate, Fartuna, who was detained at the same time and shared a cell in Dungavel with her, managed to stop a removal date for 9th January but is was moved to Yarlswood detention centre last week. We are hoping to arrange legal representation so we can get her back to Galsgow as soon as we can.

UNITY!