Hello, I've had a number of enquiries about both Michael and Otis so here is the news.
1 Michaelwas not deported on the 17th thanks to an injunction but is still in detention. Maria Nicholas is keeping in touch but as Michael's English is limited she is not sure of details. She does say however that he sounds absolutely despairing.
His Mp has been in touch with the Home Office and currently the Home office is supposed to be fully investigating whether he was actually refused asylum in Germany or not.
Our petition is pretty static at just over 500 signatures. Someone recently asked what difference a petition makes and the answer is possibly very little to the Home Office decision making although they do have to take into account the increased risk of sending a well known person back to a dangerous country but there is no doubt that these campaigns and the demonstration of public interest make a huge difference to vulnerable asylum seekers facing these terrifying ordeals alone.
We heard from one of Michael's ESL language tutors in Swansea. He says 'Michael is a wonderful human being, a conscientious student and a model of good behaviour. He deserves better treatment and care from this country. Please let this man have a chance here, allow him to become the responsible citizen he is'.
Our group has paid for some phone top ups for Michael and for a friend who is able to speak and interpret for him and we are considering repaying Maria for the cost of the injunction.
2 Otis was due to have his appeal heard at the Immigration Tribunal in Newport last Wednesday but it was postponed to Tuesday this week. This meant that at least some of the people from Swansea who had hoped to attend to support him were unable to do so. However our group was represented by Peter Florence, Claire Armstrong ,Maria Duggan and me. Our role was to support Otis and to demonstrate that he is wanted in Wales. There were 12 people in total there to support him and I know Otis was quite overwhelmed. He wrote afterwards [slightly edited] ' Hi All, thank you it's nice of you to come and especially to want to share with me these emotions...You wanted to show this love towards me of leaving your beds too early, your business just for me, I just come gratitude. Thank you very much- it's the big family.... Let's keep in touch- thank you with all my heart ... Diolch '
We all met the barrister and on her advice an adjournment was sought and granted so additional reports could be obtained. Whilst it is a great shame that this is another delay we are cautiously hopeful that there will be positive news. The petition for Otis has been taken over by Change.org as they were impressed at how much Maria Duggan had done and how much support there had been. There are now over 62,000 signatures asking for Otis to stay.This level of support does enhance his case to remain in the view of his barrister.
Oh and its Otis's 40th Birthday in Mid November and it has been suggested that we should look at providing a gift- Indeed I already have been given some money towards this. Please let me know if you want to contribute. 3 In the last three weeks we have had 12 people from the group supporting individuals attending for a Home Office Interview or at a Tribunal hearing. I've been at two tribunal hearings recently and I am absolutely clear that this is one of the most valuable things that we can do. The people attending are incredibly anxious/ sick/ as they fear that they will be returned to the place they fled from. Although at Columbus House Newport I've been very impressed by how friendly and helpful all members of staff have been, nevertheless the process of attending,waiting around, being interrogated and fearing that a single slip might mean refusal is terrifying for the people whose life here depends upon the decisions made.
It has been good to see people's faces light up when they realise that we are there for them. It's hard to know for sure if our presence really makes a difference to the process but Otis's Barrister was clear that she felt that it did reflect very positively upon the person being scrutinised and certainly on one occasion the Judge was scanning our faces to see what we thought about his pronouncement.
We have 22 names on our Courts support list and maybe need more if we are to be able to respond at short notice to requests for support. Our support doesn't require knowledge of the system and we do not speak in court but we do offer a scared person the gift of friendship and cups of water if needed! We try to send our people in pairs or more so they can support each other as well as being 'rent a crowd' and helper! If you want to join the Courts group please let me know. Meanwhile this link gives more details about the Asylum seeking system.
all good wishes,
Ailsa
PS don't forget that our next meeting is on November 13th At Gwernyfed RFC at 6.30 and
that we have an open meeting on November 15th At St Marys Church in Brecon at 7pm when there will be a chance to hear what we've been up to , to hear from our AM Kirsty about the situation for people seeking asylum in Wales and we hope to have an asylum seeker to tell us about the experience.
