Lydia Besong and Bernard Batey under new deportation threat
Article published: Friday, January 13th 2012
Cameroonian playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey were unexpectedly detained earlier this week. Both have been issued with removal orders and now face the immanent prospect of deportation on Saturday 21 January.
Batey is being held at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) while Besong, detained by the UKBA for the fourth time since she arrived in the UK in 2006, has been taken to Yarl’s Wood IRC in Bedford. Campaigners have accused the UK Border Agency (UKBA) of contravening their own procedures by failing to alert the couple that removal papers had been issued to them.
Besong was first to be detained after arriving at the UKBA Dallas Court Reporting Centre in Salford on Tuesday morning. Batey was later detained near his home in Bury. Despite letters from the Home Office stating both the refusal of Batey’s protection claim and their right to appeal from within the UK being dated 23 December, neither the couple nor their solicitor Gary McIndoe received this information until the letter was handed to them in custody on 10 January.
Their legal representatives Latitude Law were still awaiting a Home Office decision on the protection claim at the time of the detentions. In a campaign statement, McIndoe said that “further materials have been sent to the Home Office, including the report of an expert witness, and so I am surprised that the decision to detain has been made before their legal representatives have been informed in any way.”
When questioned, a UKBA spokesperson said: “Where individuals seek to frustrate their removal through the courts it can delay the returns process, however we will continue to pursue removal in these cases.”
Campaigners have expressed concerns regarding Cameroon’s treatment of government critics, and fear Besong and Batey’s political activity in the country with the Southern Cameroon National Congress (SCNC), a peaceful organisation which campaigns for the independence of Southern Cameroon, could cause them further persecution were they to return.
The government of Cameroon has been condemned by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, which has previously found the government to have “continued to curtail the activities of the [SCNC], a non-violent secessionist group, whose members faced arrest and imprisonment”. Besong and Batey, as members of the SCNC, say they have been victims of imprisonment and torture in Cameroon, including the rape of Besong by a uniformed guard.
The US State Department have also been critical of Cameroon’s human rights record, noting how “security forces committed numerous unlawful killings; they regularly engaged in torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners.”
The UKBA refused to answer specific questions on this case. However, a spokesperson claimed that “the UK has a proud record of offering sanctuary to those who need it, but where we and the courts have found they do not qualify for protection they must return to their home country.”
Along with fears for the couple’s safety if the deportation is successful, campaigners are also concerned for the couple’s health and feel it should impact on the decision to remove Besong on an Air France flight at the end of next week.
A spokesperson for the Manchester-based human rights charity RAPAR said: “Lydia has recently undergone an emergency eye operation and had been prescribed a number of medicines to aid her recovery… it is essential that she continue to take them and remains under supervision until a follow up consultation with the specialist in two weeks time.”
Besong and Batey’s long running case has previously won the support of artists including the actor Juliet Stevenson, and organisations such as Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) and English PEN, the charity which campaigns for the international freedom of speech for writers.
While living in the UK both Besong and Batey have been involved in helping refugees and asylum seekers in situations similar to their own. Speakers on behalf of the refugee charity Revive, whose meetings Besong attended every Friday, said they were “deeply saddened and angry that our good friend Lydia and her husband Bernard have been detained in this dehumanising and immoral way.
“Lydia is an inspiration to society and to her community- she is such a talented woman and playwright and is an extremely valued member of many refugee organisations including Revive Action Group. Please, we call on all members of the community to come together and fight for their release and safety.”
Besong’s first play, ‘How I Became an Asylum Seeker’, has won praise from many and was hosted by Stevenson in London. Her second piece, ‘Down with the Dictator’ is currently being produced and is due to be performed at the International Community Theatre Festival in Bristol in March.
Katy Tolman
Campaigners are requesting supporters to email the Home Secretary Theresa May at mayt@parliament.uk and Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk and express your support for the couple to remain in the UK.
More details can be found here.
Please cc your correspondence to RAPAR via admin@rapar.org.uk.
More: Migration and asylum, News
Comments
-
[…] appeals against the Home Office’s refusal to grant them leave to remain in the UK. Besong was detained twice, with the pair coming within hours of deportation attempts thwarted due to the last-minute […]
Pingback by » Cameroonian playwright Lydia Besong wins right to asylum - MULE on June 1, 2012 at 4:30 pm
The comments are closed.
