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(See previous two news items and campaign page here)
Today (Thursday), following a determined picket line outside Manjeet Kaur's home in Whalley Range, radio and TV coverage and a last-minute intervention from Kate Green MP, the eviction was delayed for a second time, this time until 8am tomorrow morning. In the meantime efforts to secure other accommodation are ongoing. Manjeet, who sought asylum in the UK two months ago, is disabled and uses a manually operated wheelchair. The UKBA recently withdrew her housing support, leading the private housing company Happy Homes UK Ltd to attempt to evict her. The superb effort of Manjeet and her supporters today, remaining resilient, needs to be continued with redoubled resistance tomorrow from 8am outside Manjeet's home- 5 Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road, M16 7SG - opposite Sylvan Avenue. Anybody able to come and give vital support, please do. See article in the Manchester Mule here and RAPAR press release (from yesterday evening) here. Update: 27/05/11 This afternoon Trafford social services have informed Manjeet that they have approved that social services support Manjeet, and are sending a duty officer to see her at her flat in Oak Lea this afternoon. Refugee Action have advised Manjeet that social services have found potential accommodation in a residential home and are looking for a place that is age appropriate. A picket is underway outside Manjeet Kaur's house: OAKLEA, UPPER CHORLTON ROAD, M16 7SG - OPPOSITE SYLVAN AVENUE. Please call Kath on 07812471047 for directions.
Manjeet Kaur, 32, who is wheelchair-bound, has been living in Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road. She sought asylum in the UK following the disappearance in India of her husband Amitt Bhatt, a journalist and human rights activist. Her husband had been threatened and attacked for his journalistic work before his disappearance in February this year. Afterwards, Manjeet continued to receive threats, by post and over the phone. She has also been physically attacked. Although Manjeet's solicitors are still working on her asylum case to see if there are grounds for a judicial review, the UKBA has withdrawn her housing support and she had been told she had to leave her accommodation by 5pm Tuesday. Her housing provider, 'Happy Homes', then agreed to extend this by two days (which Manjeet assumed meant 5pm Thursday) but told her last night that she was to leave at 9pm today (Thursday). See this press release (updated from Tuesday) The UK Border Agency plans to evict a disabled woman from her accommodation in Whalley Range later today (Tuesday).
Manjeet Kaur, 32, who is wheelchair-bound, has been living in Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road. She sought asylum in the UK following the disappearance in India of her husband Amitt Bhatt, a journalist and human rights activist. Her husband had been threatened and attacked for his journalistic work before his disappearance in February this year. Afterwards, Manjeet continued to receive threats, by post and over the phone. She has also been physically attacked. Although Manjeet's solicitors are still working on her asylum case to see if there are grounds for a judicial review, the UKBA has withdrawn her housing support and she has been told she must leave her accommodation by 5pm today. See this press release Update: Manjeet's housing provider has now said that she can stay in her home until Thursday (26/05). She can only hope to find alternative accommodation by then. The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Yvonne Creswell, and her husband Alan will be guests at
a social evening in support of playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey, who are still waiting to hear if they will be given leave to appeal against the decision to deport them. See press release for more details on the evening and Lydia & Bernard's campaign. Flyer for the event below: During Manchester Refugee Month, a celebration of Afghan history and culture, and discussion about both the current situation in the country, and the UK's response to asylum seekers from Afghanistan.
6pm on 18th June at the Cheetham Hill Welcome Centre: 2 Greenhill Road, Cheetham Hill, Greater Manchester, M8 9LG 4 speakers: - Constance Wyndham of the British Museum- 'Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World' - Rohulluah Yakobi, a Politics student and prominent member and spokesperson of the Afghan community of Wolverhampton - Longsight Councillor Dr. Aftab Ahmed - Nahella Ashraf of Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition There will be traditional music from Afghanistan, as well as a local Manchester musical duo. We will be serving traditional Afghan cuisine cooked on site. £5 - waged £2 - desititute/unwaged £2 + donation - plate of afghan food You can buy tickets either via http://www.eventelephant.com/afghanistaninreality, or by calling the RAPAR office on 0161 834 8221 PLEASE COME, SHARE AND ENJOY - Robert Fisk in the Independent: Why no outcry over these torturing tyrants?
- Patrick Cockburn in the Independent: Bahrain is trying to drown the protests in Shia blood - BBC North West Tonight report on the Manchester Bahraini students who have had their lives threatened and all their funding removed by the Bahraini government after participating in protests against it in Manchester. - Stop the executions of four young Bahraini men - http://stop-executions-in-bahrain.tumblr.com/ Press release about the group of Bahraini nationals and international lawyers who have lodged war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against the Al-Khalifa family regime.
Story in the Bolton News here
BAHRAINIS IN GREATER MANCHESTER CALL FOR UK GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO PREVENT UNLAWFUL EXECUTIONS5/4/2011 See website: http://stop-executions-in-bahrain.tumblr.com/
PRESS RELEASE Wednesday, May 4th 2011 FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT KATH GRANT 07812471047 BAHRAINIS IN GREATER MANCHESTER CALL FOR UK GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO PREVENT UNLAWFUL EXECUTIONS A group of Bahrainis in Greater Manchester have called on the UK Government and the international community to make an immediate intervention following the death sentences passed on four civilians by a special military court after a trial held behind closed doors. The campaign group, which also includes Bahrainis throughout Britain and Europe, is demanding a halt to the executions. It is also demanding that the government in Bahrain suspends the current State of National Safety, releases detainees and engages in dialogue with its people. Amnesty International has urged the Bahraini government to stop the executions. On April 28th, a military court in Bahrain sentenced four young men, all aged 20 or under, to death. Abdullah Hassan al-Sankis, Qassim Hassan Matar, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed and Abdulaziz Abdulridha Ibrahim Hussain were tried before a special military court which barred access to the public – even though they are all civilians. The trial was conducted behind closed doors and the sentenced men have no right of appeal except to another special military court. The entire process raises great concerns about basic justice. The four young men were sentenced to death after being accused of the premeditated murder of two policemen. The military prosecution alleged that the accused ran over the policemen with a vehicle on March 16 2011. Three other young defendants were tried with them: Issa Abdullah Kadhim Ali, Sadeq Ali Mahdi and Hussein Jaafar Abdulkarim. All of them were sentenced to life imprisonment by the same court. Death sentences can usually be appealed in Bahrain's military court. However, if the appeal fails, the final verdict cannot then be appealed in Bahrain's ordinary courts. The four men are therefore facing imminent execution. According to Amnesty International (here) the men completely denied the charges. On 15th March 2011, the Bahrain King, Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, declared a state of emergency which was described as the State of National Safety (SNS). It provided for the establishment of a special military court to try those accused of offences under emergency powers. This cut off the right to appeal the judgments. Since the SNS was imposed, more than 500 people have been arrested and many of them have been detained and kept incommunicado and at undisclosed locations. At least four people have died in detention in suspicious circumstances since the end of March. Amnesty International article here. Wire Update article here. Many of the detainees were taken from their homes, often at night, by groups of police and security forces who wore masks, failed to produce arrest warrants and sometimes assaulted the detainees and members of their families. Bahrain is in the grip of a deepening human rights crisis and the severity of the sentences imposed so far threatens the potential for future reconciliation and dialogue between the government and opposition in Bahrain. The campaign group in Greater Manchester is demanding that the international community and UK government intervene immediately to prevent these unlawful and unjust executions. The government of Bahrain must suspend the State of National Safety (SNS), release all prisoners and detainees and engage in meaningful and peaceful dialogue with its people. Please urge the UK Foreign Office to intervene to prevent these unlawful and unjust executions. Contact details for Foreign Secretary William Hague: Westminster House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Tel: 020 7219 4611 [email protected] Constituency Unit 1, Omega Business Village, Thurston Road, Northallerton, DL6 2NJ Tel: 01609 779093 Fax: 01609 778172 [email protected] Please also write to the Bahraini authorities to urge them to: · halt these unlawful and unjust executions of four young men · suspend the 'State of National Safety' · release all prisoners and detainees · engage in meaningful and peaceful dialogue with the Bahraini people PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO: (Time difference = GMT + 3 hrs / BST + 2 hrs) King Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa Office of His Majesty the King P.O. Box 555 Rifa'a Palace, al-Manama, Bahrain Fax: +973 17664587 Salutation: Your Majesty Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Office of the Prime Minister P.O. Box 1000, al-Manama, Bahrain Fax: +973 17533033 Salutation: Your Highness Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khlaifa Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs, Fax: +973 175 31 284 Salutation: Your Excellency PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEAL TO: Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain, 30 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8QB. Fax: 020 7201 9183. E-mail: [email protected] Yesterday morning in Westminster Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, raised the debate regarding the government’s proposed funding cuts to ESOL (English tuition for speakers of other languages). We are grateful to her for contacting RAPAR, prior to this debate, asking if she could draw on some points made in our earlier comment piece on ESOL, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to the discussion in this way. The transcript of the debate is here.
The cuts – in Heidi’s words, ‘woefully short-sighted’ – will make accessing English tuition nigh-on impossible for huge numbers of people who vitally need it. Furthermore, they represent a clanging contradiction to David Cameron’s pronouncements on the importance of all British citizens/residents being proficient in English, and his bemoaning of the supposed ‘failure’ of multiculturalism. It is very strange for the government to insist that all citizens must speak a good level of English, and then seek to implement a policy that will make access to English training extremely difficult. We once again urge the government to abandon this ill-conceived policy, and salute Heidi for raising the debate in Parliament, and making the case so well yesterday. We hope to continue to link with her over this and similar issues. PRESS RELEASE Wed 04/05/11
For more information, please contact Kath Grant 07812471047 BAHRAINIS TO LODGE INDICTMENT AT THE HAGUE - REGIME AND ARMY WILL FACE WAR CRIME CHARGES A group of Bahrainis living in Britain will travel to the Hague tomorrow (Thursday) to lodge an indictment for war crimes against the Al Khalifa family at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. A dossier of evidence charts the use of army tanks, snipers, and Apache helicopters to fire on peaceful unarmed protestors killing at least 31. Hundreds were severely injured, and then denied basic medical treatment and access to the country’s main medical centre “Al Salmaniya Hospital”. Some of those who made it to the hospital were picked up by the police, brutally attacked and taken away while still receiving treatment. Medical staff were impeded and grievously assaulted while doing their duty trying to help the wounded. The whereabouts of most of those detained are unknown and their families are in serious fear for their lives as many corpses of known detainees are surfacing. 'Many professionals striving to serve their country and their people, from all sects and levels of society- including senior doctors, nurses, teachers, heads of university faculties, engineers, accountants, lawyers, journalists, students, sportsmen, and businessmen - have been detained. Hundreds of others have been dismissed from their jobs, and trade unions have been dissolved,' explained one of the Bahrainis who has helped draw up the charges of war crimes. 'Bringing these charges against the King is a big step, we fear for our families in Bahrain, but we have to stop these brutal attacks on the whole Bahraini nation.' The 'crackdown' followed a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of women, youth, children, and elderly, from across Bahraini society, from every occupation and sect. On February 14th, they united and took to the streets of Bahrain calling for the introduction of a constitutional monarchy and constitutional reform to promotes basic human rights, civil liberties, power sharing, equal access to employment, and the right to choose a new prime minister. Some estimates say half the population were involved in these protests. The brutal suppression was assisted by foreign forces from neighboring Saudi Arabia. Reports from human rights organisations and journalists have been used to compile a dossier which provides the basis of the charge of war crimes. These organisations include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, Physicians for Human Rights, US Solidarity for Labor and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Journalists' reports from the BBC, CNN, AP, AFP, New York Times and Post, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Independent were also used in the dossier. Lawyers will lodge charges of War Crimes against King Hamad Al Khalifa at the International Court at the Hague. Bahrainis in Britain who joined peaceful, legal protests in London and Manchester in support of human rights and democracy have faced repression at home. Some students who have returned at the behest of the King have 'disappeared' after being met by security forces at the airport. 'Those of you who still have some human sense, and moral bindings to human respect and universal principles and integrity, now is the time to stand up for your Bahraini brothers and save them from further detainment, disappearance, torture, killing. They are being harassed, abused, silenced, and executed by their government just because they call for freedom, basic democratic rights, and a life with integrity like any other nation in the 21st century.' Yassar Al Sayer 07868 663 746/ 07909 981 873 Dominic Kavakeb Press Officer at the Hague 07545 965 302 Kath Grant Press Officer in the UK: 07812471047 A great chance to support RAPAR while enjoying the new Peace & Social Justice Trail, good company, and some (gentle!) exercise. Supporters can make a huge contribution to RAPAR's ongoing work by getting sponsored to walk the trail, which passes many important sites from Manchester's proud history as a promoter of peace and social justice. To get involved, download the files below, which are a registration form, an information sheet, and a sponsorship page. Please return the registration form to us by: email: [email protected] fax: 0161 210 2970 post/in person: RAPAR, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS or hand it to a RAPAR member
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