URGE HOME SECRETARY
Please amend the letter below if possible. If you can’t - just copy and paste.
Email to: smithjj@parliament.uk and public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk, Fax: 020 7035 3262 or 0870 336 9031 or 0870 336 9031 (click here to fax for free)
Urgent – Mr Guy Njike, Home Office reference: N1007848
Dear Secretary of State,
I am writing to you Guy Njike to ask you with the utmost urgency to personally intervene and stop Guy’s deportation for good, 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 1800 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 11 February 2008 when reporting at Becket House.
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 11 February 2008 (a delay of 2 and a half years) 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. He was subsequently released when his solicitor filed for Judicial Review but continues to live in uncertainty and fear of being deported to Cameroon.
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 and Age Concern. Currently Guy is working fulltime in the Food Hall in Selfridges and volunteering three days a week at Medecins du Mondes. Guy attends church in London each week and fully participates in parish life. 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 in February this year 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 is in danger of imprisonment and torture. He was 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 in February, “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 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/
February 19, 2008 at 7:31 pm
[...] URGE HOME SECRETARY [...]
March 11, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Let us help a non-British citizen who has done more for Britain than so many British citizens fail to do.
March 20, 2008 at 8:49 pm
[...] URGE HOME SECRETARY [...]
March 21, 2008 at 11:01 am
[...] KEEP UP THE PRESSURE ON HOME SECRETARYPlease write to the Home Secretary on Guys behalf and ask your friends and family to do the same:stopdeportationofguy.wordpress.com/urge-home-secretary/ [...]
April 15, 2008 at 6:47 am
[...] be deported. So good news for now. However its not yet over and we need to keep reminding the Home Secretary about Guy’s [...]