Tag Archives: Campaign

AMDANI JUMA: SHORT FILMS ON YOUTUBE

Set the Precedent – Let Amdani Juma Stay; Amdani Juma ? Meet The Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xyHu3GeNYkA
Vital Link To Vulnerable And At Risk Groups – Amdani Juma ? Meet The Man 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5dHbreFshA
Support Amdani?s campaign to remain in the UK by signing the following petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html
Continue reading AMDANI JUMA: SHORT FILMS ON YOUTUBE

AMDANI JUMA: BAIL HEARING MONDAY 11 AUGUST

Amdani Juma, the Nottingham Community worker whose deportation has been delayed pending Judicial Review, is to attend a Bail Renewal Application Hearing at Loughborough Reporting Centre on Monday August 11. Mr Juma?s Judicial Review Hearing was adjourned for three weeks on Tuesday July 29, after his solicitor and Home Office legal representatives failed to reach agreement.
A short campaign video paying tribute to our good friend Amdani Juma can be seen on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNho3_auGA

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.
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Campaigning continues as Hicham & Amdani remain incarcerated

These are two very different stories, and by no means the only ones in Nottingham or anywhere else in UK that show up the distress caused by state border and immigration policies.

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

Continue reading Campaigning continues as Hicham & Amdani remain incarcerated

Nottingham Market Square demos on Sat (1pm) and Mon (5pm) against detention & deportation of Amdani

To protest against Amdani Juma’s detention this morning and Notice of deportation (for next Wednesday), two demonstrations have been quickly organised, one for tomorrow Saturday 31st May at 1pm, and the other at 5pm on Monday 2nd June, both in Nottingham’s Market Square. Please come and show your support for Amdani. Some placards will be provided by the Friends of Amdani support group or make your own, bring drums or other instruments, or just bring yourself, family and friends, and make your feelings known!. Read more
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Friends of Amdami Juma vow to continue fight for his Indefinite Leave to Remain in UK

Following Amdami Juma’s asylum & immigration tribunal hearing on 28th November, he has now received the result from the Home Office, and we are unhappy to report that his appeal against the decision to deny Indefinite Leave to Remain has not been successful, despite him having made his home in Nottingham as a refugee for nearly 5 years, and after huge support from the local community in Nottingham and elsewhere.

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.
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Support Amdani Juma’s right to remain in the UK

A support group has been launched by the Friends of Amdani Juma to support his appeal against a Home Office ruling to terminate his right to remain. Amdani came to the UK in March 2003 from Burundi and applied for asylum. Within a month he was given Humanitarian Leave to Remain because of his experience as a torture survivor and political dissident, having escaped death on more than one occasion because of ethnic conflict and as a result of his involvement with the Democratic Front of Burundi. The DFB aims to disarm the Burundian army as a means to peace in opposition to the military government. Like most of its leading activists, Amdani has been forced into exile in recent years. Many of his family & friends have faced torture and been murdered. Please download and distribute the attached petition and read on to find out more about the case……
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