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I have pasted in the relevant bits of
the flyer people made Mass Maki Mbye and Ya Sai Jeng,
Flight number
ZB5394, direct from Gatwick
to Banjul, capital of the Gambia.
And this is
a letter/script compiled from the flyer people wrote last time Mass and Ya Sai
were detained and facing removal
and from similiar letters/scripts I
have used before.
For if you
don't know what to say on the phone/in an email...
I
am writing/speaking in regards to flight ZB5394, due
to leave at 09:15 hours on Tuesday 16th October from Gatwick to Banjul, Gambia.
The flight is due to carry Mass Maki Mbye and Ya Sai Jeng,.
They are asylum
seekers who were politically active in Gambia and are being returned against
their will.
Both in their sixties, they have made the best of
their situation here in Bristol and have a wide and diverse circle of friends
who respect and love them.
Both Mass and Ya Sai have been
active members of an opposition party since it was formed in the 1990s and Mass
was twice detained, threatened and tortured before they left.
Both Mass and Ya Sai attended a demonstration
outside Downing Street over the recent presidential elections, at which they
were probably photographed for the Gambian Embassy.
THESE TWO FACTS PUT THEM AT VERY
HIGH RISK ON RETURN.
AMNESTY SAY THEY ON NO ACCOUNT SHOULD BE
RETURNED. So do the Sene-Gambian Human Rights Defence group, and the members of
their party in exile, the UDP(UK). SO DO WE at Bristol Refugee Rights, Bristol
Defend Asylum Seekers, and Bristol No Borders.
They are awaiting
a report from Amnesty International which will provide further evidence for
their asylum claim. UKBA are attempting to forcibly remove them without allowing
them the opportunity to have this new evidence heard in court.
In carrying someone who is being taken, most likely in a state of
extreme distress and fear, by force and with UKBA staff enforcing their
cooperation, you
will not only be allowing this elderly couple to be
brutalised, but also exposing the airline staff and customers to this situation.
There have been many reported incidents of violence against people in this
situation, and the recent high profile case of Jimmy Mubenga, in which the
victim died, witnessed by traumatised passengers, four of whom testified as
witnesses in the subsequent trial against his
killers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/18/jimmy-mubenga-death-three-men-arrested
The
health and safety considerations would also become more complex. An atmosphere
of panic and trauma can create unpredictable behaviour from other passengers. I
am aware of several cases where passengers have become aware that a flight is
carrying someone against their will into a dangerous situation and have acted to
prevent the flight by refusing to fasten their seatbelts or otherwise disrupting
the flight.
The link below is to an article describing this happening
http://changezimbabwe.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2501&Itemid=2
I
am sure you can imagine the expense and disruption, not to mention the damage to
your reputation if something like this were to happen this Thursday.
The
UK's asylum system does not allow many people a fair hearing because of cuts to
legal aid, difficulties in finding solicitors to represent people,
bias,
ignorance and political pressure to hit arbitrary targets regardless of the
merits of individual cases. By providing deportation flights, Monarch Airways
would be implicating themselves in this injustice.
XL Airways changed
their policy and refused to take any more deportations on the grounds that they
did not want to be implicated in a breach of human rights.