Deportation threat woman fears death – Currently being held in Dungavel

A CAMPAIGN has been launched against the planned deportation of a woman living in Sheffield – with friends claiming she will be killed if she is sent back home.

Annociate Nimpagaritse, aged 25, fled from Burundi – an African country between Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo – three years ago after her parents were shot dead.

The Sheffield College student, from Burngreave, managed to escape with her siblings when rebel forces burst into their family home killed their mum and dad. But Annociate got separated from them at a refugee camp and does not know where they are or if they are even alive.

She was helped to get to Britain in 2005 and made her first claim for asylum, which was turned down, as was her second attempt two years later.

But she continued building a life for herself in Sheffield awaiting her deportation and was sent back to Burundi in February until immigration officials there refused to accept her paperwork and sent her back to Britain.

Last week she was again taken to a deportation centre in Scotland and told she is to be removed from the country on Thursday.

A campaign has been launched to get the Home Office to reconsider its decision, and on Monday her supporters will gather outside Sheffield Town Hall at 5pm to draw attention to her plight.

They have also written a letter to Immigration Minister Liam Byrne asking for a rethink and have collected more than 1,200 signatures on a petition asking for her to be allowed to stay in the country.

Annociate, who her friends and supporters say is “frightened” at the prospect of returning home, studies English at college, sings in a church choir, does voluntary work and speaks in churches for ASSIST – a charity set up to help destitute asylum seekers in and around Sheffield.

She was in the middle of organising her wedding to her fiance Aime – a Burundian whose claim for asylum was accepted – when she was forced out of Sheffield.

Sheffield College Chief Executive Heather MacDonald said: “The college is committed to Annociate being able to continue her education and training in this country and in a safe environment. She has been a model student and contributed strongly to her local community here in Sheffield.”

Campaigner Graham Wroe, a college lecturer, said: “Burundi has been described as the fifth most dangerous country in the world. Rebels continue to murder, kidnap and rape civilians. Burundians who know her situation say there is a strong likelihood she will be killed if she returns.

To pledge your support visit freeannociate.blogspot.com or contact Graham Wroe at gswroe@yahoo.co.uk.

What can you do?
Lobby Kenyan Airlines
Sign the Petition
Send this Model letter to Liam Byrne
Keep up to date by visiting – http://freeannociate.blogspot.com/

Four-year-old girl caged as refugee for 86 days despite being Scottish

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl has been booted out of Scotland by asylum chiefs after spending a record 86 days in detention – even though she was born here.

Terrified Ericka Andrew was snatched with mum Tracey in a dawn raid on her home, treated as an asylum seeker and sent to Nigeria by the Home Office.

Her ordeal is revealed days after the European Union urged UK authorities to consider “drastically limiting” the policy of holding people in detention centres.

Bill Ramsay, minister at Ericka and Tracey’s church, said: “She has never known any home other than Scotland.

“It’s not any different from grabbing any other Scottish child, locking them up then flying them to a foreign country.”

Tracey, 26, and Ericka were snatched from their home in Glasgow’s Maryhill in June. Tracey was to sit her final healthcare exams that day.

They were locked up in the notorious Dungavel detention centre, a former prison in Lanarkshire, for three weeks before being transferred to the Yarl’s Wood facility in Bedfordshire.

Despite lodging an appeal, the pair were flown to Africa at 6.30am on August 28.

It was revealed last year that families were being held alongside foreign criminals at Dungavel.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education published a report earlier this year stating facilities for children were only suitable for a maximum of two weeks’ detention.

Reverend Ramsay, of Gairbraid Parish Church in Maryhill, said: “I wouldn’t treat a dog like that, much less a child.

“Ericka was kept in detention longer than any other child her age – it’s disgraceful.

“Our congregation hoped that because Ericka was born here, they would be sympathetic.”

Tracey fled Nigeria aged 21 after becoming pregnant by a Muslim man. She was rejected by her Christian family, threatened by her lover’s relatives and feared for her life.

A week after arriving in the UK, she was persuaded to use a false passport to get to Canada but was held at London Gatwic airport.

She spent two months in jail then moved to Glasgow, giving birth to Ericka soon after.

The Rev Ramsay said: “I visited them in Dungavel and it was one of the most distressing experiences ofmy life. Tracey made a mistake but she was pregnant, alone, terrified and didn’t understand UK law.

“But she made amends and would have been a useful member of society. There are foreign nationals who have committed much more serious crimes who have been allowed to stay in Britain.

“Ericka was a lovely girl who captured the hearts of everybody. It’s beyond understanding the Home Office has done this.”

Tracey was refused permission to stay due to her criminal record. Immigration rules are reserved to Westminster but the Scottish Government has demanded an end to dawn raids and child detention.

A spokesman said: “We are looking with key partners at a Scottish model of an alternative to detention.”

The Home Office Border Agency said: “In most cases, children are within our detention estate for less than seven days. We take the welfare of children very seriously.”

Children’s Commissioner Kathleen Marshall said: “Early morning removals are extremely intrusive and frightening for children and detention can cause lasting damage to their health and wellbeing. I will continue to argue for alternatives.”

‘I wouldn’t treat a dog like that, much less a child’

Rev Bill Ramsay

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