Cameroon playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey, who were released from detention last week after a nationwide campaign backed by leading writers, have been told they must report daily at Dallas Court Home Office Reporting Centre in Salford Quays.
The instruction from the UK Border Agency in Liverpool means a five hour round trip, involving three different buses each way, for the couple when they travel from their Bury home every weekday. Lydia has an appointment for laser eye treatment at a Manchester hospital on Thursday but, so far, the UKBA have refused to review the reporting arrangements.
Dr Rhetta Moran, of RAPAR, said: “When the UKBA have followed their own procedures, Bernard and Lydia have always reported regularly in the past, they have many friends and supporters in Greater Manchester and view Bury as their home. They are not going to abscond. These reporting arrangements are completely unrealistic and are the latest example of the UKBA's humiliating surveillance tactics.”
Last week, RAPAR member Manjeet Kaur, a disabled woman who uses a wheelchair, finally won the right to report to Dallas Court via telephone after RAPAR made numerous challenges to the UKBA 's reporting requirements over a nine month period.
Dr Moran added: “At one point, Manjeet was instructed to report weekly at Dallas Court which meant two bus journeys. She was expected to go in a manually operated wheelchair in all kinds of weather and had to wheel her chair half a mile to and from the nearest bus stop to Dallas Court. It is not unreasonable to draw the conclusion that this UKBA demand was instrumental in Manjeet developing the very painful carpal tunnel syndrome in her hands.
“After RAPAR highlighted this heartless treatment of Manjeet, backed by medical evidence and the support of Trafford MP Kate Green, the UKBA finally agreed to install a telephone line at Manjeet's home.
“The cases of Bernard, Lydia and Manjeet are just three examples of the UKBA's crude psychological surveillance tactics that are designed to humiliate and fracture people seeking asylum not, as the UKBA claims, to deter people from absconding.”
ENDS
For more information contact: Dr Rhetta Moran, RAPAR, 07776264646 OR Kath Grant, RAPAR Press Officer, 07812471047