RIOTS IN DEPORTATIONCAMPS 2005   UNITED KINGDOM

15 November 2005

seit dem 1. november sind 4 menschen aus simbawne , die im yarl's wood abschiebelager inhaftiert sind, im hungerstreik.

MORE hunger strikes at UK Detention Centre

A fresh round of hunger strikes has been reported at a detention centre in the UK. Seven Zimbabweans are currently in detention at Yarl's Wood centre, and four of them are participating. The hunger strike is to protest the length of time they have been held in detention. Sarah Harland of The Zimbabwe Association told us the lengthy detentions are because they have South African passports. The longest has been held for 7 months now.

The good news is that two of the hunger strikers had a hearing on Tuesday, one will be in court very soon and the fourth might be released this week after proving she is Zimbabwean. The hunger strikers began their campaign on November 1 st. One of them is 28-year old Thando Mpofu, who is reported to have said she would rather die of starvation than be returned to Zimbabwe. She had not eaten for 11 days as of Tuesday and she believes they all faced torture or even death if they are forced to return home. There are not supposed to be any Zimbabweans in detention since a tribunal ruled it is not safe to return failed asylum seekers home. But those being held travelled on foreign passports and need to prove they are indeed from Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Association helps with asylum issues, and is always up to date with the latest information. Sarah Harland also talked about the issue of Malawi passports. Zimbabweans who travelled on Malawi passports can be deported because if it is a legitimate one, the UK officials then assume it is safe to send you back there. Sarah said The Association has been working with some NGOs in Malawi and have made progress in trying to find a solution to this Malawi dilemma faced by Zimbabweans.

[  swradioafrica.com

14. november 2005

NEW wave of hunger strikes at Yarl's Wood
Six more refugees refusing food at removal centre

A hunger-striking asylum seeker at Yarl's Wood has said she would rather die of starvation than be returned to her native Zimbabwe. Thando Mpofu, 28, has refused food for 11 days, along with five other refugees at the Clapham immigration removal centre. Miss Mpofu said the all-women group faced torture or even death at the hands of government agents if they are forced home. She said: "This strike is the only thing we can do. It's better to die than to go back and be detained. I can't go back there because I am a lesbian and I am not allowed there by the government ? they call us 'pigs' and 'dogs' ? and those with political cases can't go back because they would be imprisoned and tortured or killed. I have proved I am from Zimbabwe, but I am still being held here when I should be released." Miss Mpofu, who has been at Yarl's Wood for nearly six months, said she had fled Zimbabwe for South Africa after she was beaten by relatives because of her sexuality. She bought a fake South African passport and travelled to Britain in 2003, settling in Leeds while her asylum application was processed.

But she claimed it had taken until Tuesday this week for her to be allowed an interview at the South African Embassy to prove her true nationality. And she said she still feared deportation to Zimbabwe, even though other detainees from her country are being released during a freeze on repatriations. Miss Mpofu said: "They are saying they will get back to my case, but I should be released just as others are." Another hunger striker, who asked not to be named, said she had only avoided arrest after a friendly member of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation had allowed her to escape. She said: "They will kill me straightaway if I am deported. I am weak now and just surviving on water." Anne Neale, spokesman for Legal Action For Women, said: "From our point of view, these women are being detained for such long periods when detention is only meant for exceptional circumstances." The six Ugandan former hunger strikers who refused meals for nearly two months are still at Yarl's Wood.

[  zwnews.com

JULY 2005

[  more infos at zimdaily.com

JULY 2005

[  more infos at national coalition of anti - deportation campaigns

05. JULY 2005

zwei der menschen im hungerstreik sind "fast komatös" . einer ist seit 33 tagen im hungerstreik, der andere seit 14 tage.

Zimbabweans in Edinburgh demonstrate at detention centre

The United Network of Detained Zimbabweans UK reports that 2 detainees at Harmondsworth Centre at Heathrow Airport are nearly comatose as they continue the hunger strike against forced deportations. Their names have not been released but one of them has not eaten any food for 33 days. The other hit day 14 along with the majority of detainees but he has not had anything to drink for the last 7 days.

Nobel Sibanda, a spokesperson for the Network, said they are trying to convince immigration officials to release these 2 detainees to the hospital for observation. He said the situation is pretty bad because some detainees have fainted several times and one cannot even walk now.

Meanwhile, activities aimed at pressuring the British government to change its policy on deportations gathered steam as G8 leaders descend on the city of Edinburgh. And Zimbabweans have become quite creative and aggressive about getting their messages across.

A group of Zimbabweans in Edinburgh for the G8 summit besieged the local Dungavel Detention Centre on Tuesday. Speakers from various European countries were there to highlight the plight of asylum seekers in the UK. Zimbabweans took the opportunity to publicise the hunger strike and the abuse of detainees.

Activist Louise Davies was at Dungavel as the speakers appealed to the UK immigration officials to reverse their policy on forced deportations. She said the crowd was huge and enthusiastic and the case for Zimbabweans on the hunger strike was heard loud and clear.

[  swradioafrica.com

04. JULY 2005

bericht über einen mann der vor acht wochen nach simbawne abgeschoben wurde und dort gefoltert wurde.

Beaten and tortured, the asylum-seeker sent back to Mugabe's police by Britain

AT HIS hideout on the outskirts of Bulawayo, Usher is recovering from the violence that he has suffered since being deported from Britain eight weeks ago.The vivid purple scars on his chest and feet, inflicted he says by President Mugabe?s security forces, show why church leaders and human rights groups are demanding an end to the forcible return of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers.

Usher's story of his torture since his expulsion in May is the first detailed account of what lies in store for some of those returned. It challenges Charles Clarke's statement to MPs last week that, to the knowledge of the Home Office, none of the asylum-seekers sent back to Zimbabwe has come to any harm. Refugee organisations say that they have been unable to trace most of the deportees. Those whom they have tracked down are too scared to say anything publicly about their treatment.

As the hunger strike by Zimbabweans in British detention centres entered its 13th day, Usher told /The Times/: "Anyone sent back here after running away to Britain is in terrible danger, and those helping us are at great risk."

Usher, 24, fled to Britain in November 2002 after police tortured him in an attempt to make him reveal the whereabouts of his uncle, an activist for the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party in Zimbabwe?s Eastern Highlands. He was given exceptional leave to remain and went to live with his aunt Mary in Brixton, South London.He was staying with his English-born girlfriend in Sussex when at the end of April he was asked to report to immigration officials in London. "I was told it was a routine meeting. This time though I was asked to wait in a room with five other Zimbabwean men," he said.

Without warning or explanation he and the others were taken to Harmondsworth detention centre, near Heathrow. Before his family or lawyers could intervene, Usher was transferred to Dover and, nine days after his arrest, was forced on to an aircraft in handcuffs with another asylum-seeker.At Harare airport Usher's British escorts, working for a private security company on contract to the Home Office, handed the pair over to police.

"We were punched on the head and neck and asked why we didn?t have the right travel documents. Then four agents from what we took to be the Central Intelligence Organisation appeared and we were moved to separate rooms. They kicked me and kept shouting that I was a British spy."After two days of interrogation, Usher was driven to the central prison in Harare, where he was repeatedly beaten on the soles of his feet. Over the next three weeks in custody he says that he was subjected to electric shock treatment to his chest and testicles.

"They told me I would suffer for going to England," he said.Last month he appeared in a Harare court with other deportees and magistrates warned them that they faced charges carrying long prison sentences. As they were led from the dock one official thought that Usher had been given bail, and he took his chance to escape.

He says that for much of the past three weeks he has lived in the bush, scavenging for food, until a school friend took him in. "If I am captured again they will kill me for sure," he said. "I believe Tony Blair and his ministers cannot know what is happening here or they would not send people back. My only hope now is to somehow get across the border."

Worried family and friends have tried in vain to alert the British authorities to Usher's plight. His aunt Mary, who has looked after him since his parents died, said: ?He wanted to study art here. He was never in trouble, he was respectful and loving and now I don't know what is happening to him.?

She was allowed to see him only once during his detention."How can Mr Blair talk of human rights at his G8 summit and send boys like this back to danger" The Government is turning its back on murder."The Home Office said last night that it did not routinely monitor the returnees and suggested that Usher contact the High Commission in Harare.Kate Hoey, his local MP, said: "Nobody is looking out for deportees like Usher. Once they are out of Britain the HO couldn?t give two hoots."

[  timesonline.co.uk

02. JULY

ein richter hat die abschiebung einer frau , die sich an dem hungerstreik beteiligt, vorerst ausgesetzt.

Judge stops Zimbabwe deportation

A High Court judge has stepped in to stop the deportation from the UK of a failed Zimbabwean asylum seeker who is on hunger strike.The 26-year-old woman, being held at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, had been told she would be put on a flight to Harare on Saturday night.She is one of many detained Zimbabweans protesting at the lifting of a ban on forced removals to their country.

Lawyers successfully applied for a High Court injunction to stop her removal.The woman, who did not want her name revealed, is one of at least 50 Zimbabweans held in the UK on hunger strike in protest at the lifting of the ban.Solicitor Jovanka Savic said: "In this case the judge decided the removal was inappropriate and has given an order that it be stayed."

'No change'

It was reported this week that deportations had been put on hold until after the G8 summit.But the Home Office says there has been no change in policy.A spokesman said later he would not comment on individual cases but added: "There are no removal directions in place for tomorrow (Sunday)."Kate Hoey MP said the attempt to deport the woman by the government was a "shameful act"."To do it on the same day they support something like the Live 8 concert shows outrageous hypocrisy," she added.

Settlements demolished

Pressure has been mounting recently for the Home Office to halt deportations as increasing evidence of human rights abuses in the troubled African state comes to light.Last Friday, a Zimbabwean opposition official due to be deported from the UK won a temporary reprieve.Crispen Kulinji, 32, who is also on hunger strike, said he was "not prepared to face a dictator at home" and would "definitely" be killed.

Mr Kulinji is being held at Campsfield House, in Oxford.Recent moves in Zimbabwe to demolish informal settlements - which the UN says has left 275,000 people homeless - have drawn objections from the Foreign Office.The Zimbabwean woman has been in detention for more than six months and is being held at Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire.

"I am so weak I can hardly walk. I have not eaten for eleven days and I have not had any fluids for four days,"the woman said earlier."I am so confused. One minute you are told the deportations have been stopped."I can't believe they now want to send me back to the lion's den," she added.

Brothers killed

The woman, 26, says her father, a manager for a white farmer, was killed by Zanu PF supporters of Robert Mugabe during a farm invasion in 2000.After she sought asylum in the UK, she heard that her two brothers had been killed.The woman had gained support from Liberal Democrat MP John Austin.

"While I recognise there are a number of people who could not be classified as refugees under the convention, I think there is a risk to almost anyone being deported back home to Zimbabwe at this present time," he said.Conservative Alistair Burt, Shadow Minister for communities and regeneration and local MP for Yarl's Wood, said that he had tried to halt the deportation."I strongly object to anyone being sent back to Zimbabwe at the present time," he said on Saturday.

[  news.bbc.co.uk

02. JULY 2005

der abschiebeknast dungavel ist wegen des g8 gipfel geschlossen. Alle 38 gefangene sind in andere knäste gebracht worden.

Dungavel closed during G8 summit

Scotland's controversial Dungavel detention centre is to be evacuated and closed for the G8 summit.The Home Office confirmed the move would be made amid concerns for the safety of staff and detainees.All 38 detainees will be transferred to other centres by Tuesday when a mass demonstration by G8 Alternatives is planned outside the Lanarkshire site.Refugee campaigners labelled the decision as "cynical" and believed it was an over-reaction to the event.The government confirmed the move on Saturday and said the detainees would be returned to Dungavel during the week following the summit.

Safety concerns

A Home Office statement said: "We can confirm that Dungavel will be closed for the duration of the G8 summit."It's being done for the safety of everyone at the centre - detainees and staff alike."They will be removed to other centres across the country."The object of the G8 Alternatives protest is to secure the full-time closure of the asylum centre.The group's spokesman Aamer Anwar described the move by the Home Office as "completely cynical".

He said: "We are trying to give a voice to the voiceless and that's why the Home Office has done this, they are concerned we will give hope to the prisoners of Dungavel."We'd like to see the place permanently evacuated. This just goes to show that it's really Tony Blair who's pulling the strings up here in Scotland."

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane, a long-standing campaigner for Dungavel detainees, joined in the condemnation.Ms Kane said: "What concerns me is that the people in Dungavel don't have the right to hear the voices who are sticking up for them."They probably haven't even been told why they are being evacuated and have no idea what is going on.

Peaceful protest

"If the Home Office really had any concerns for the people in Dungavel then they wouldn't brutalise and marginalise them."Mark Brown, of the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, condemned the evacuation and said it would cause "considerable distress" to those involved.Mr Brown said there had been a long history of peaceful protest outside the centre and there was no reason to think next week's protest would be any different.Dungavel has been the focus of debate since it opened in September 2001 because families, including young children, have been held there.

[  news.bbc.co.uk

27. JUNE 2005

der innenminister will die abschiebungen von abgelehnten asylbewerberinnen aus simbawne nicht beenden.

UK to continue Zimbabwe returns

Charles Clarke has rejected calls to stop sending back to Zimbabwe people whose UK asylum claims have failed.The home secretary said successful applicants could stay - but argued that a blanket suspension of all removals would lead to asylum abuses.Dozens of Zimbabweans in detention centres across the UK have gone on hunger strike, while the Lib Dems urged a review of 116 people's cases.

Tory spokesman David Davis called UK Zimbabwe policy a "miserable failure".He said Robert Mugabe's regime was guilty of "crimes against humanity on a massive scale"."We wouldn't be facing the issue we are today if [the UK government] had shown a clearer lead in the past, put greater pressure on governments such as that of [South Africa's] Thabo Mbeki and forced the issue on to the agenda of the UN Security Council," said the shadow home secretary.

Protection?

But Mr Clarke argued: "Not all Zimbabweans who claim asylum here genuinely face persecution."He acknowledged that members of the African nation's opposition faced prosecution by Mr Mugabe's regime and needed "international protection".And he pointed out that in the 15 months to March either asylum or leave to remain was granted to 270 Zimbabweans.He said that of those who had been returned there had been "no substantiated reports of mistreatment".

Earlier Tony Blair said the danger of halting all deportations was that a signal would be sent around the world "that Britain is open for business" even for failed asylum seekers."If we engage in a generalised moratorium, our fear is that we would literally be back in the situation we were two or three years ago where people were hammering us for not getting the asylum system under control," he said.

Homeless

A ban on deportations to Zimbabwe, which had been in force for two years, was lifted last November.During the first three months of this year 95 Zimbabweans were sent home.Recent moves in Zimbabwe to demolish illegal buildings - which the UN says has left 275,000 people homeless - have drawn objections from the Foreign Office.UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka has arrived in Harare to assess the demolitions of illegal shantytowns.On Monday the Home Office said 57 people due to be deported from the UK were now refusing food, up from 41 at the weekend.

However, the group organising the protest, the United Network of Detained Zimbabweans in the UK, said some 100 people were involved.The group said this figure included 46 women in the Yarl's Wood centre near Bedford, 35 people near the Harmondsworth centre near Heathrow and 18 at nearby Colnbrook.Maeve Sherlock, head of the Refugee Council, said she was "extremely disappointed" ministers had failed to recognise the dangers face by people forced to return to Zimbabwe.

"Our responsibilities are clear: even if someone is not accepted by our government as being a refugee, we do not send them back into danger, and Zimbabwe is clearly not safe," she said.The Home Office meanwhile said a hunger strike of some 100 inmates at the Campsfield centre in Oxfordshire came about after a Turkish asylum seeker was found dead, possibly after committing suicide.

ZIMBABWEAN HUNGER STRIKERS BY REMOVAL CENTRE

Yarlswood: 28
Harmondsworth: 18
Campsfield: 5
Dover: 3
Colnbrook: 3
(Total: 57)

Source: Home Office

Note: Campaigners say some 100 are refusing food

[  bbc.co.uk

23. JUNE 2005

seit dem 20. juni sind 97 asylsuchende aus simbawne im hungerstreik ( es gab zuvor schon einzelne im hungerstreik, darüber sind aber keine berichte zu finden).

Mass hunger strike against deportations to Zimbabwe

With the UK government issuing strong condemnations of Robert Mugabe, ninety-seven Zimbabwean asylum seekers, in detention centres across England, have gone on hunger strike to protest against the increasing number of deportations to Harare.

Zimbabwean asylum seekers in detention centres across England have launched a mass hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. Ninety-seven Zimbabweans, detained at Harmondsworth, Dover, Colnbrook, Yarl's Wood and Campsfield, have not eaten food since midnight on Tuesday and plan to continue till at least Saturday morning.

One of the hunger-strikers, Tafara Nhenghu, told IRR News that the aim of the hunger strike was to raise public awareness about both Mugabe's regime and Britain's asylum system. 'We need British people to know about this', he said. 'The immigration authorities just grab you in the morning and take you to the plane, without you even having time to contact solicitors or make arrangements. Detainees are affected psychologically by having to wait for weeks and months, without being told what is happening. There is widespread anxiety and tension.'

Tafara is being held at Harmondsworth detention centre, where asylum seekers' applications are 'fast-tracked'. He faces deportation back to Harare in the next few days. 'It is dangerous for any deportations to take place right now', says Tafara. 'In Zimbabwe, it is hard to know what is happening to returned asylum seekers. We are asking for a review of the deportation policy.'

Patricia Mukandara is one of thirty women at Yarl's Wood who has chosen to go on hunger strike. She has been taking only fluids for over two weeks now and says that she will continue for as long as it takes. 'The only way out for us is to take action', she told IRR News. 'We have tried to explain what has happened to us but they do not listen to anything. They did not hear my story.' Patricia came to Britain five years ago and claimed asylum. She has been detained at Yarl's Wood since last December and has now been given a deportation date of 2 July. Deportation, she says, has already led to the death of her brother, who was tortured and killed after being deported to Zimbabwe from South Africa.

Brutality

The dangers in Zimbabwe are acknowledged by the British government. The statement issued last week by foreign secretary Jack Straw could not be clearer. 'Over the last three weeks the Mugabe regime has launched a brutal crackdown on some of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans', he said. 'Over 30,000 have been arrested, with over 40,000 households (approximately 200,000 people) affected with their homes and businesses callously destroyed. There are also reports of children being detained in prison and separated from their parents. The crackdown continues to spread across the country to many urban and some rural areas. Armed police have swiftly crushed any resistance with teargas.' Straw went on to call on the international community to maximise the pressure on Mugabe to 'end this brutality'.

For Zimbabweans in Britain, many of whom are recent asylum seekers and refugees, such statements of support for Mugabe's victims are undermined by the government's own policy of increasing deportations to Harare. In spite of the 'brutality' of the Mugabe regime, the Home Office resumed deportations to Zimbabwe last November after a two-year suspension and ninety-five Zimbabweans were removed in the first three months of this year. According to the Zimbabwean Community Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers, those returned to Harare were handed over to the authorities on arrival and detained for questioning. Their families had to pay bribes to have them released, says the campaign.

In recent weeks, the rate of deportation is thought to have increased. Zimbabweans, who have been reporting each week as required to immigration officials, have been put in detention without warning and told that they are to be deported. The result has been a growing climate of fear among Zimbabwean asylum seekers, particularly as news of the clampdown in Zimbabwe spreads. Within detention centres, there seems to be growing tensions between staff and detainees. A statement issued last Thursday by Zimbabweans at Harmondswoth alleged that detainees have been 'verbally and physically abused by the officers'. In one incident, a detainee was allegedly strip-searched in the canteen in front of female officers during mealtime.

But for hunger-strikers like Patricia Mukandara, the protest is simply a fight for survival. 'It is a matter of life and death', she says. 'It is better to die of hunger here than be killed in Zimbabwe.'

[  irr.org.uk