Background – from Press release by Friends of Amdani :: Wed 6 August 2008
Contacts: Rob Peutrell ? 07846765761 or Leo Keely ? 07742884335
Amdani Juma, a refugee HIV prevention and community worker in Nottingham, was detained by the immigration authorities on Friday 30th May 2008. when he went to sign at a Reporting Centre in Loughborough. He spent 18 days in detention. His removal was postponed once to give both sides more time and then a second time on June 10th pending a Judicial Review application. He was released and returned to Nottingham after an initial bail hearing in London on Monday 16th June. The purpose of the August 11 hearing is to ascertain whether Mr Juma has adhered to his bail conditions. Amdani is a Burundian national. In 2003, he was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection but his later application for Indefinite Leave to Remain was turned down. A further application for discretion by the Home Office was also refused resulting in his present detention. Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, and Nottingham Council leader Jon Collins have both spoken out in opposition to Amdani?s proposed removal. There have been three demonstrations in Nottingham and an online and paper petition combined have a total of over 5,600 signatures. http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html contains many testimonials from the community and has over 2,500 signatures. Paper petitions total almost 3,000. Signatories include Alan Simpson MP, and academic Noam Chomsky.

Update following Aug 11 hearing: Amdani’s bail has been renewed until November.

Amdani Juma, refugee advisor and HIV/AIDS professional (and all round wonderful guy from Burundi, under humanitarian protection in Britain for 5 years) has had his deportation on Wednesday delayed, but only until evening of Tuesday 10th June. He has been moved from Lindholme detention centre near Doncaster to Colnbrook removal centre at Heathrow airport. The pressure on him must be insummountable. We must stop his removal. More (including news that Noam Chomsky has signed Amdani’s petition) is at: http://www.nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk/ &
See http://friendsofamdani.wordpress.com/ and sign the e-petition.

Hicham Yezza, Nottingham University employee (and peace activist from Algeria, settled in UK for 13 years) has had his deportation cancelled pending a judicial review application but he continues to be held in a detention centre in Dover. He has bravely gone to the press about his experience inside and his resistance to constantly being moved from one detention centre to another (click here to hear MP3 of him speaking). More at:
http://freehichamyezza.wordpress.com/

Continued campaigning on these two high profile cases is vitally important, and we can only hope this results in Amdani and Hicham coming back to Nottingham soon, but let’s not kid ourselves that there are not thousands of others who are in need of support. Huge numbers (around 20,000) forced deportations take place a year which destroy livelihoods made or remade here in Britain. The situation in detention (or so-called ‘removal’) centres is horrific and punative. People are subjected to terrifying dawn raids by the immigration police. After periods of detention sometimes of many years, our neighbours are being transported to frightening and uncertain futures and for some, to their graves. Amdani and Hicham know this as much as anyone.

Britain seems like a strange place at the moment. Whilst anti-immigrant hysteria continues in the press and for political expediency, online projects like Moving Here celebrate and also recognise the hopes, experiences and sacrifices of voluntary migrants like Hicham who choose to live, study and work in Britain. Living projects like City of Sanctuary in Sheffield and our own Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum work towards a long term future for refugees and asylum seekers in our communities. But still this will only reach a minority of those being victimised by government policies which mean even more detention places are being created at this very moment (from 2,600 to 4,000). Therefore, the momentum gained in these excellent high-profile campaigns must be maintained to build a movement against incarceration of any person just because they happen to be born on other soil. We may even be able to take the next step and begin to build a mass movement against the very ideas of nation states and their methods of control.

Find out more about No Borders at our event on 13th June, details at:
http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1319

Also read: The truth behind the deportation statistics,
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/11/357466.html

We urge as many people to join us to protest against his deportation back to Burundi due to take place on Wednesday 4th June. We are hoping that the local press and TV stations will be there so the more people supporting him the bigger the publicity his case will receive, and the more chance we have of stopping his deportation.

We are also planning another demonstration on Monday 2nd June in the Market Square @ 5pm.

More details will follow with regard to the ways you can help the campaign. Please come and join us – and bring your family and friends.

History

Of mixed Tutsi & Hutu parentage, Amdani was evacuated to Kenya by UN troops during the Rwandan genocide. Returned to Burundi, where he was detained, beaten and placed under surveillance. He fled from Burundi again in Feb. 2003 when friends who were fellow party members were killed by government militia.

Has no family in Burundi. Most close relatives are dead or missing. A sister has refugee status in Holland and two cousins, in UK.

He applied for asylum in UK in March 2003. His asylum claim was refused but he was granted 3 years’ Humanitarian Protection’ until 1 May 2006. He then applied for Indefinite leave to Remain which was refused after 15 months’ delay.

An appeal was made to the Immigration Tribunal under Article 8 of the European Convention which concerns an individual’s right to respect for their private life. The Court’s negative determination was received on 24/12/07.

Since his arrival in the UK, Amdani has been receiving medical treatment for psychiatric problems which have been diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

During five short years, Amdani has built up an amazing and unique record of service to the community â?? especially â?? but not only to refugees and asylum seekers â?? in the City, the region and nationally. His unstinting and tireless work at both the Refugee Forum and the Terence Higgins Trust, as well as his own organisation ‘African Institute for Social Development’ set up specifically to campaign and provide information for the prevention of HIV / AIDS, has earned the respect and admiration of colleagues, volunteers,as well as refugees from a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds, for his dedication, integrity, and unstinting efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged.

This was amply illustrated by the support given to him in his recent appeal when dozens of people wanted to provide positive witness statements and more than fifty accompanied him to the Court.

Amdani has already made a very full contribution to British society and built up a wealth of goodwill and a wide circle of friends. He has much more to offer Britain if he were to be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain. Integration is now a key policy of the Government; Amdani is a great role model of how to do this and has assisted many others to move towards this goal. His combination of knowledge, skills, linguistic and interpersonal, a burning commitment to Equal opportunities and Human Rights and an understanding of the difficulties faced by refugees in striving to rebuild their lives, all make Amdani unique.

If he is deported to Burundi where he fears his life would be in danger, the public and private life that he has built so successfully, would be destroyed â?? and our community would be the poorer.

Friends of Amdami Juma vow to continue supporting Amdani’s struggle not to be forced to return to Burundi. For more information please contact Rob Peutrell 078 4676 5761.

Amdani volunteered at the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum, joined their management committee, and has been employed by them since 2005 as part of their integration support team. In addition he is involved in numerous local and national organisations and campaigns including African Initiative Support, Nottingham Council Tenants Forum, the National Refugee Integration Forum, National African HIV Prevention Program, African HIV Policy Network, Refugee Action, and he advises Nottinghamshire Social Services and other East Midlands bodies on asylum issues.

His friends are still in shock at the refusal to grant him indefinite leave to remain. He is no less in danger from the government that he was when he arrived here and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office considers that ?the human rights situation in Burundi remains poor? (2007). Certainly the Home Office has offered no good evidence that the situation in Burundi is now safe for someone of his political and ethnic background, and from the time he arrived had not previously attempted to cast doubt on the circumstances that brought him here.

Amdani means a good deal to us. His personal and professional life is here, and like him we genuinely fear for his life should he be deported to Burundi. Please sign and circulate this petition & return to his solicitor:

Gareth Dooling, Paragon Law, 7B Broad Street, Hockley Village, Nottingham, NG1 3AJ. Tel. 0115 9644 123 garethd@paragonlaw.co.uk