Latest - 12/01/07
Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, Positive Action in Housing and the Kingsway Amnesty Group
Rally outside Home Office building, Brand Street, Ibrox
Saturday 13 January 10.00 am
Protest against the detention and deportation of Zahra Byansi & children
Zahra and her two young sons were arrested in the Brand street office on Monday 7 January, the first day of the resumption of signing on after the holiday despite their lawyer having submitted a fresh claim on Friday 5 January. They were taken to Dungavel and await transportation to Yarlswood for removal to Uganda on 17 January, next Wednesday.
Zahra has been an active and prominent campaigner against dawn raids, detention and deportation of asylum seekers and has gladly given her support to building campaigns across the city. In particular she has been an energetic and enthusiastic member of the Kingsway Amnesty Group whose successful defence against dawn raids has been such an embarrassment for the Home Office and whose integrated organisation of local residents and asylum seekers is such an example to us all.
Zahra and her children’s arrest and threatened deportation looks an unlikely coincidence. It follows immediately a series of embarrassments for the Home Office – the charging with obstructing the course of justice of a local resident who had come to the aid of her neighbour suffering a dawn raid, the press coverage at Christmas of Archbishop Conti’s opposition to dawn raids and subsequent support from trade unions and politicians.
Zahra’s arrest is deeply distressing for her and her children and all who know them. But it also looks like an attempt to intimidate those who would stand up to the Home Office and act in solidarity with their friends and neighbours wherever they come from in the world.
The best response is to redouble our efforts and make sure that Saturday’s rally is a great success that sends a message of resistance to the Home Office and their asylum policy that they and the government cannot ignore.
Stop dawn raids
Stop detention
Stop deportation
Defend Zahra Byansi & her children
Messages of support can be sent through the Kingsway Amnesty Group: noreenreal@yahoo.co.uk
Or through GCtWR at glascamref@hotmail.com
Or you can phone Zahra yourself on: 01698 395 000, extension 417 while she is at Dungavel.
Zahra has now got a temporary mobile and can be reached on this number 07870 859 687. Obviously, she would love to speak to as many people as possible, but the phone can only be charged at reception, so text messaging is probably the best way to keep in touch, to save battery power. This mobile will be held at Dungavel when she is taken to Yarls Wood.
Extract from NCADC last year:
Wednesday 22nd March 2006: Two mums and their children saved from deportation
Mary Semirimu and Zahra Byansi and their children didn’t fly last night as the Home Office had planned. They were on the way to Heathrow Airport with another Glasgow/Ugandan family Zahra Byansi and her children Fisal aged 11 & Rahim aged 4, when two injunctions were obtained to stop the removals pending a further legal hearing. Their solicitor had to drive to Heathrow Airport to make sure the injunction was served on the Immigration Authorities at Heathrow.
Both mums were bubbly and cheerful the next morning when they spoke from Yarls Wood detention centre to supporters, and sent their thanks to all who have been faxing/helping, especially the people of Glasgow. And then today, Saturday 1st April, they turned up at the Unity Centre, happy to be back in their adopted home town of Glasgow. www.ncadc.org.uk
