Yanks
I think Kejau misunderstood some issues at hand. Many immigration cases are sorted at the tribunal level, and like in Abdoukraim's case, he did not pay anything and we can list over a hundred Gambians who have won their cases with the Legal Aided solicitors and lawyers. The FGM cases involving Africans is the larges in asylum claims and most of the cases are heard with the help of law centres across the country. Political asylum is tricky though, but even that, law centres have defended folks from across Africa for free.
The heroes of preparing countless case bundles for Gambians are brothers like Lamin J Darboe, Yanks Darboe, Lamin Darboe, the law centres in Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, London etc. These brothers and the law centres have provided their services for free nearly in all cases. But in the case at hand, the free legal representation couldn't convince the Judges that Pa Modou is at risk. Therefore at this juncture, all we can do is help raise the legal fees like we will do if he happens to be a blood brother.
There are folks that Yanks and Lamin J Darboe have help win their cases for free, due to privacy, we cannot name this people. I have enormous respect for Yanks and LJ. Each day, this brothers are dealing with the immigration cases of Gambians, for free. I say this things because we may misunderstood the real heroes who are there when all friends turn away. Keep up the good work guys.
Suntou


 
On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 4:12 PM, Yanks Darboe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
KJ

I think it would assist your query if I explain the Legal Aid regime a little further for you.

Under the legal aid funding for immigration cases, each case has to be subjected to
both merit and means testing; otherwise, as the LSC would advise funding will not be
justified

The legal aid will also fund a case under a fixed fee scheme at two stages: Legal Help and
Controlled Legal Representation or pay it hourly rate; if the case is an asylum fast track case.
Otherwise the fixed fee schemes of LH and CLR will apply.

Pa Modou's case has received funding under both schemes; as his appeal had
been through the Immigration Tribunal appeal process, by the time it came to us. His appeal
further went upto the Upper Tribunal for reconsideration, but was refused by Senior Immigration
judges. His next appeal was to be made to the Court of Appeal, which was not approved by the IAS,
based on the Legal opinion they received from one Barrister's chambers in Manchester that
there was no merit in the case.

To keep it simple, by the time we had Pa Modou's case transferred to us; the LSC had already
paid more than £2,500 towards the case to the IAS, even though they had not succeeded in the
case and had concluded that there was no merit in the case.

Just a point of thought do you think the LSC would have agreed to us seeking funds under the Legal
Help and Controlled Legal Representation, in order to deal with the same case.

Therefore, your insinuation that we charge Pa Modou far more than the legal aid rate, is unsubstantiated.
The LSC had paid over £2,500 in the case for appeals that took place at the lower courts, how that fee can be
argued to be of lesser fee or requiring lesser work than an appeal to the Higher Court or for reconsideration
is indeed perverse.

Furthermore, what you do not understand is the restriction that a legal aid lawyer is under when conducting a
case funded by the LSC. The LSC will not accept it as justified for you to instruct a barrister from London to
attend a hearing in Liverpool; if there are Barristers in Liverpool, who can do that; regardless of whether you
have a prior knowledge about that Barrister or not. In fact the LSC will not accept us taking instruction from Pa
Modou who lives in Liverpool, as it would argue there are LSC accredited Lawyers in Liverpool, which Pa Modou
should approach. The LSC in simple will give you the liberty to use the public money for a shopping spree.

Therefore, you may need to consider the IAS's position, first, before you start judging. The Barrister you had
liberty to choose, the IAS will not have liberty to choose him for you under legal aid, as long it is not justified.

The IAS is indeed a brilliant organisation, who has done great service to the welfare of Immigrants in this country;
if they had failed in your case then that is unfortunate; but you cannot use your case as the yardstick for judging
their performance in other every case they dealt with.

As for your claim that my few years experience does not warrant me to require such a huge fee. Firstly,
I will state that you have not properly peruse my posting. Simply because I made it clear that I am not dealing
with Pa Modou's case at present and do not have much input in it.

Next time, it will be better if you can read between the lines before jumping to conclusions.
 
Furthermore, if I had little experience; don't you think I would require higher fee than a much experience
person, since I will need to rely on a more experience lawyer to assist me on the case. And as you are well
that experience lawyer will not assist me for free; which will amount a double charge, as suppose to if had
been much experienced.
 
As for writing a statement for Pa Modou; I'm sure that would be welcomed but under what capacity?

The judge may want to know.

I guess this is sufficient for your query.

Yanks



Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 13:18:49 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Pa Modou's friends in the UK wish me to share this with you good people of Ellen!!!!! Wonderful.
To: [log in to unmask]

Yanks, 

Thanks for the mail, but I am perplexed about the reason, Pa Modou had to pay for his own fees, when legal aid should be available to any lawyer at any court. There is no reason to, only because Pa Modou's British friends are involved. Are you saying your few years legal practice qualify you to charge a fee over and above the legal aid fee? Another assertion that the IAS is a brilliant law centre was not my experience, I had to take on my own case on the advice of my cousin a brilliant barrister of over 10 years experience and even she accepts legal aid fees.  as the IAS are the most useless outfit in this country. 

I am willing to write a witness statement but paying for a fees for such a clear cut case, as according to you, the guys testament is secondary to the situation back home, may be a little too charitable for me just now. 





Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 12:15:19 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Pa Modou's friends in the UK wish me to share this with you good people of Ellen!!!!! Wonderful.
To: [log in to unmask]

Brother Haruna

I commend you for your efforts in raising funds to assist Pa Modou.
Pa Modou is a perfect gentlemen if only one gets to know him better.
I got to know him best, when i got involved in his case.

It will not be appropriate for me to go into the details of his case due to
solicitor - client confidentiality rules; but I deemed it not harmful to assist
your fundraising efforts, by stating the following below, in order to inform
other potential Samaritans about his case.

As you have rightly stated the best lawyers do not come cheap and i think
it did not contradict Suntu's suggestion that efforts be made for his case to be
funded under the legal aid. The only problem with that now is that the case has
already been funded under the legal aid. His first lawyers were legal aid lawyers,
IAS, which is very reputable law centre and offers brilliant service in immigration law.
The problem they had in this case, even though they had tried their best; they had
missed an important material argument in favour of Pa Modou's case and without
realising that sort comings they appealed to the lower courts against the refusal
decision of the Secretary of State of the Home Departement (SSHD). The lower
courts sided with the SSHD that Pa Modou has no genuine case.

The case was transferred to us, at my previous law firm within 5 days to Pa Modou's removal
date to the Gambia. We instructed one of the best human rights barristers in East London, who
happens to be a good friend. He drafted grounds for us to appeal to the High Court, together with
the expert report drafted by Dr Ebrima Ceesay, a brilliant Gambian philanthropist and Amnesty
International.

It took the High Court judge just 4 hours to bar the returning of Pa Modou to the Gambia. Another
High Court Judge months later ordered for his case to be reviewed by the High Court itself.

Upon receiving these orders of the High Court, the Secretary of State requested Pa Modou
to withdraw his Judicial Review application, as she was willing to reconsider his case. The impression
she gave us was that Pa Modou's case was going to be settled.

Shortly after that i had a better job offer that i could not reject and had to move. I transferred Pa Modou's
case to a colleague, who has been dealing with it since.

However, the problem with lawyers is that they do not like to be dictated by another lawyer as to what they
are suppose to do in a case. For this reason, i could not have much input in the case as i had before. Pa Modou
had informed me that the SSHD had send him another refusal letter, which he forwarded to me. To tell you the
truth it was probably drafted by a junior immigration caseworker, who does not know what he was doing.

The current lawyers have now appealed against that decision, even though i would have preferred them to return
to the High Court, in order to renew our last application at the High Court. However, it remain to be seen as to how
the lower courts will deal with Pa Modou's appeal now, after the Higher Court's had shown agreement with everything
he had stated.

In any event if the lower courts made blunder again, the Higher Court will get their chance to deal with it again.

The difficulty here is not that of Pa Modou's case but that of the SSHD's Liverpool immigration department's, who are
behaving so incredibly. If the case should return to the High Court again, the justices will not be pleased with the SSHD's
actions and could make high cost orders against her.

Therefore; there is a force in the legal argument of Pa Modou's case. However, to  make this argument clear it will require
the involvement of some of the best legal heads in London and they do not come cheap.

Though, i do not have much input in Pa Modou's case at present; i nevertheless have much interest  in the case. And, as
long as President Jammeh remains in power in the Gambia, it will take me by huge surprise, to see the High Court
of this country convinced that the Gambia is safe for Pa Modou to return.

This is not based on what Pa Modou state as his claim, but what the High Court already know about the brutality of the
Gambian regime.

Brethren Yanks


 

Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2010 19:39:21 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pa Modou's friends in the UK wish me to share this with you good people of Ellen!!!!! Wonderful.
To: [log in to unmask]

Thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat, Dec 4, 2010 6:47 pm
Subject: Re: Update: Ellen Fundraising for Pa Modou Bojang Relief Fund

Total raised so far: $201.12

Suntou Touray - 30 Bpounds - Pledged.
Haruna - On behalf of Deyda Hydara, Chief Ebrima Manneh, Kanyibaa Kanyi, Hons. Femi Peters & Koro Ceesay, and Omar Barrow  - $50.00 - Received.
Anonymous HRH - on behalf of the late brother Musa Amadou Pembo - $10.00 - Received.
Prince Bubacarr Sankanu - 50 Euros/$66.12 - Received.
Anonymous HRH - $25.00 - Received.
Haruna Darbo - $50.00 - Pledged - Received.

Suntou,

You're a great man. I acknowledge your pledge of 30 pounds.

On the pro-bono representation, I would actually advise against it. Not because I don't want Pa-Modou to benefit from free legal representation, but Today, in law, what you get is what you pay for. It takes quite a bit for good lawyers to do their research, to pay for help from other lawyers on a case, to pay their clerks for the best representation, and to pay Home office filing fees. So unless a lawyer is a millionaire or state subsidized, I'd advise against pro-bono service. The claimant will be the one to suffer in the end. It can actually mean the difference between success and failure. Cases that we think are cut and dry are made inordinately difficult by the Home Office for their budget woes.

The best we can look for is forebearance of part of the fees or more time to pay the entire fee. I do understand your generous spirit Suntou, believe me I do, because Pa-Modou is not allowed to even be gainfully employed as he seeks legal representation. I am very excited for him though because while waits for his case to be considered, Pa Modou is engaged in his community volunteering and accruing value to his community. Such a person is likely to be rewarded by the good graces of total strangers. Even the friggin strangers at the Home Office. I always feel that I know these cats at the Home Office. But they always come up with off-the-wall excuses to avoid doing their fellow man/woman a good turn. Well they can be sure that if they should bear on caution to afford Pa-Modou Asylum, he can only accrue value to the kingdom.

Thank you again Suntou.

Haruna.

-----Original Message-----
From: suntou touray <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat, Dec 4, 2010 12:59 pm
Subject: Re: Update: Ellen Fundraising for Pa Modou Bojang Relief Fund

Haruna
Thanks for the remainders on the plight of Pa Modou. I wonder what the new GPU Europe is doing about the plight of their colleague. However, I pledge £30 as well. I'll also try speaking to brothers in the law here if they can take his case pro bono (for free). Charging an individual in such a situation should be the last thing a lawyer or solicitor should do. I am aware that, the flexibility that Yanks use to posses is largely gone due to his new post at the biggest law firm in London. He would have taken the case for free but with his work load and contractual arrangement, it is impossible to bring in outside work.
I have spoken to him about the case, he played a pivotal role in Pa Modou staying, I hope there can be a way to represent Pa Modou for free. One can also explore the legal aided Law societies as well. Raising £1500 will be a tall order the way we operate. Pa Modou is not working, may be doesn't have solid individuals close to home to foot the bill. This is where the spirit of community needs to come out.
Keep up the good work.
Suntou

On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 11:19 PM, Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
We are approaching D-Day for our friend Pa Modou. I encourage my coleagues and friends here at Ellen to see if they can help improve our position. His legal bill that will be due in a few days is 1,500 pounds. Please Help!!!
Haruna.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I am in receipt of HRH's gift of $35.00 to Pa Modou's appeal efforts. Please join me in thanking HRH for her generosity and consideration. HRH has gifted many a times before to her fellow citizens in need. It is the mark of a good Samaritan to consider relief for total strangers. Allah/God/DaarManso will be the judge of your reward HRH. Thank you. May Allah consider your honor of our fallen Musa Amadou Pembo.

I encourage our friends and coleagues to give Luwaye-Am

Total raised so far: $151.12
Haruna - On behalf of Deyda Hydara, Chief Ebrima Manneh, Kanyibaa Kanyi, Hons. Femi Peters & Koro Ceesay, and Omar Barrow  - $50.00 - Pledged.
Anonymous HRH - on behalf of the late brother Musa Amadou Pembo - $10.00 - Received.
Prince Bubacarr Sankanu - 50 Euros/$66.12 - Received.
Anonymous HRH - $25.00 - Received.
Haruna Darbo - $50.00 - Pledged - Received.

-----Original Message-----
From: Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Nov 17, 2010 11:05 pm
Subject: Update: Ellen Fundraising for Pa Modou Bojang Relief Fund


We are informed that our friend and coleague Pa Modou Bojang has been accorded an in-country right to appeal the earlier decision on his asylum case. We thank the UK government and courts for this forebearance. This generosity de-escalates Pa Modou's case a bit and affords him the opportunity to escape certain death if he were not accorded this opportunity.

I urge Pa-Modou's lawyers to work doubly hard because a favorable decision is not a foregone conclusion yet. There is now a higher burden of proof placed on them and generally when you have to prove the imminence of death when the person has not been killed yet, the work becomes more difficult. I am hopeful however and I commend the UK government and the Home Office for de-escalating the matter.

Also I received a note from Anonymous HRH that she has completed her pledge and I will effort to retrieve the gift she sent tomorrow. I take this opportunity to update the fund-drive in advance of my receipt of Anonymous HRH's gift to Pa-Modou Bojang.

I encourage our friends and coleagues to give to the fund-drive because the work has just gotten harder even though Pa-Modou was accorded this temporal relief. The appeal will be heard in a couple of weeks. Time is against us.

Haruna.

Total raised so far: $151.12
Anonymous HRH - on behalf of the late brother Musa Amadou Pembo - $10.00 - Received.
Prince Bubacarr Sankanu - 50 Euros/$66.12 - Received.
Anonymous HRH - $25.00 - Received.
Haruna Darbo - $50.00 - Pledged - Received.
 
Badou de Kaolack,
 
This is a friendly challenge to you, the businessman. If it is possible for you to contribute any amount to our friend Pa Modou Bojang's relief before the end of October 2010, my uncle in Canada Nurudeen Jabbie agrees to match your contribution dollar for dollar even if he will lose during the currency exchange.
 
It is only a friendly challenge and if you are unable to meet the challenge at this time, I will understand. Do let me know so I can get another challenger for uncle Nurudeen. We can use the funds. Mr. Bojang's case is getting close to reaching a climax and retiring his legal debt will be one more headache he has to deal with as his fate is being decided by the UK courts.
 
Thank you in advance BDK.
 
Haruna.
 
Anonymous HRH - on behalf of the late brother Musa Amadou Pembo - $10.00 - Pledged.
Prince Bubacarr Sankanu - 50 Euros/$66.12 - Received.
Anonymous HRH - $25.00 - Pledged.
Haruna Darbo - $50.00 - Pledged - Received.
 
Friends and coleagues,
 
I come to you once again to join with you in yielding relief for our friend and countryman Pa-Modou Bojang. I take this opportunity to again thank all of you for assisting with The Chief Manneh Family Relief Fund and The Kanyibaa Kanyi Family Relief Fund. Those who have pledged in those fundraisers, but for one reason or the other could not complete their generous pledges are encouraged to complete their gifting to the Pa-Modou Bojang Relief Fund.
 
We are all by now aware of Pa-Modou's chagrin and angst. Our friend and fellow citizen who worked as a journalist with a UNESCO-sponsored community radio station in Brikama educated and informed Gambians under enormous threat and risk. Government harrassment, threats to his person and property, and NIA arrest and detention, were Pa-modou's experiences as he toiled to elevate the consciences of a destituted people. He did not do it for fame and riches. He did not do it for any future remuneration or fancy. He did it because of his love for broadcasting and his fundamental rights of free expression and speech.
 
Pa-Modou was able to flee the persecutions in Gambia to the UK. The land of the free spirit. The land of Human Rights and considerate justice. Now Pa-Modou is again under threat. Threat of deportation from the UK back to Gambia. Could a single human being endure such torment and despondency? We are delighted to hear that the UK government has re-considered Pa-Modou's expeditious deportation and we look forward to that government according him full Asylum and relief. All this did not come easily. It came via frantic efforts of Pa-Modou's friends, Amnesty-International-UK, his fellow citizens, distinguished UK citizens, his legal aid advisor, and the law firm of one of his fellow citizens. We are forever indebted to these good samaritans, who helped save a life.
 
Pa-Modou's friends in the UK have embarked on a fund-raising effort to retire his legal debts. They are reaching out to us for support in this area. Our coleague and fellow citizen Abdoukarim is in touch with Britt and other friends of Pa-Modou in the UK, that we may yield Pa-Modou relief through a synergy of all our efforts.
 
Thank you for your audience and considerations.
 
Please send your generous gifts and pledges to:

The Global Democracy Project
For: Pa-Modou Bojang Relief Fund
P.O. Box 775
Lithia Springs, GA 30122
 
I begin the effort by pledging $50.00 to the effort.

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--
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
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