Please Tell the Home Secretary to stop the deportation of Guy

Please amend the letter below if possible. If you can’t - just copy and paste.

E-mail to: smithjj@parliament.uk and  public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk, Fax: 020 7035 3262 or 0870 336 9031 or 0870 336 9031

Urgent – Mr Guy Njike (Home Office reference: N1007848)

Dear Secretary of State,

We are writing to you urgently about a Guy Njike to ask you with the utmost urgency to personally intervene and stop Guy’s deportation, to personally re-examine his case and to use your powers of discretion to let Guy stay in the UK.

Guy is supported by his MP Jeremy Corbyn, Lord Joffe CBE, his wide network of friends and over 800 people who have already signed a petition. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopdeportationofguy/signatures.html

Guy’s background and case

Guy Njike is seeking political asylum in the UK after suffering numerous imprisonments and acts of torture in Cameroon due to his political activities with the opposition party, the Social Democratic Front. During the last occasion that Guy was detained he sustained a serious head injury which resulted in him being transferred to hospital, from where he subsequently escaped and eventually left the country on false documentation. Guy claimed asylum on the day he arrived in the UK. Guy was detained on Monday this week (11 February 2008) when reporting at Becket House and is due to be deported very soon.

Guy did not have his initial interview at the Home Office until March 2004. Following the rejection of his application in August, Guy lodged an appeal which was heard on 10 December 2004. He received the Adjudicator’s decision to dismiss the appeal on 20 December 2004.

In August 2005 Guy submitted a fresh claim for asylum with new supporting material. He heard absolutely nothing from the Home Office until Monday this week when he visited Becket House for his monthly reporting appointment. He was then informed that his case had been rejected on the grounds that the material submitted did not constitute a new claim and a removal order issued for Saturday 16 February.

A model UK citizen

Since being in the UK, Guy has tried to re-build his life and received counselling from the Medical Foundation. Guy learnt English and in 2004 completed his Masters degree in human rights at the University of London. He has given much time and energy to the community through volunteering for a number of organisations, including the Refugee Council. Currently Guy is working fulltime in the Food Hall in Selfridges and volunteering three days a week at Medecins du Mondes.
Guy has therefore worked to earn his living, paid taxes and volunteered in the local community. He was called up for jury service and completed this service, and he has a vote (and uses it). Guy has a wide network of friends. He has given so much to his community in London.

Consistency with Government policy

We want to know how the UK Government can treat Guy so badly. The delays and flaws in the asylum system have meant that he has been here for over 8 and a half years and has re-built his life. He had to wait from August 1999 until March 2004 for his initial interview. And he was detained on-the-spot this week while reporting at Becket House in his lunch break, unable to return to work, phone confiscated, treated like a criminal and informed he would be returned to Cameroon where he will be imprisoned and tortured on Saturday. He is terrified.

The Home Office, and indeed the Government itself place great emphasis on the importance of an integrated and cohesive British society. Yet Guy Njike, who indeed made such an effort to re-build his life and integrate, was informed by the Home Office in the refusal letter that he received on Monday, “the fact that you have provided various educational certificates and character references from your clients fellow students notes the accuracy of the Adjudicators comments”. The Adjudicator had said, “I find that he sought asylum for reasons unconnected with seeking international protection, probably for economic and educational betterment”. Therefore, obtaining educational qualifications and being supported by fellow students was evidence that Guy Njike entered the UK for economic and educational betterment. Surely, the Home Office is giving the message to asylum seekers not to integrate into British society or else it will be used as evidence to discredit their case.

Secretary of State, I urge you with the utmost urgency to stop the deportation, re-examine the case and use your discretionary powers to let Guy stay in the UK.

Please inform me immediately about any progress on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Please also include a link to this website: http://stopdeportationofguy.wordpress.com/