(See previous two news items and campaign page here)

Today (Thursday), following a determined picket line outside Manjeet Kaur's home in Whalley Range, radio and TV coverage and a last-minute intervention from Kate Green MP, the eviction was delayed for a second time, this time until 8am tomorrow morning. In the meantime efforts to secure other accommodation are ongoing. Manjeet, who sought asylum in the UK two months ago, is disabled and uses a manually operated wheelchair. The UKBA recently withdrew her housing support, leading the private housing company Happy Homes UK Ltd to attempt to evict her.

The superb effort of Manjeet and her supporters today, remaining resilient, needs to be continued with redoubled resistance tomorrow from 8am outside Manjeet's home- 5 Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road, M16 7SG - opposite Sylvan Avenue. Anybody able to come and give vital support, please do.

See article in the Manchester Mule here and RAPAR press release (from yesterday evening) here.

Update: 27/05/11 This afternoon Trafford social services have informed Manjeet that they have approved that social services support Manjeet, and are sending a duty officer to see her at her flat in Oak Lea this afternoon.  Refugee Action have advised Manjeet that social services have found potential accommodation in a residential home and are looking for a place that is age appropriate.

A picket is underway outside Manjeet Kaur's house: OAKLEA, UPPER CHORLTON ROAD, M16 7SG - OPPOSITE SYLVAN AVENUE. Please call Kath on 07812471047 for directions.

Manjeet Kaur, 32, who is wheelchair-bound, has been living in Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road. She sought asylum in the UK following the disappearance in India of her husband Amitt Bhatt, a journalist and human rights activist. Her husband had been threatened and attacked for his journalistic work before his disappearance in February this year. Afterwards, Manjeet continued to receive threats, by post and over the phone. She has also been physically attacked.

Although Manjeet's solicitors are still working on her asylum case to see if there are grounds for a judicial review, the UKBA has withdrawn her housing support and she had been told she had to leave her accommodation by 5pm Tuesday. Her housing provider, 'Happy Homes', then agreed to extend this by two days (which Manjeet assumed meant 5pm Thursday) but told her last night that she was to leave at 9pm today (Thursday).

See this press release (updated from Tuesday)

The UK Border Agency plans to evict a disabled woman from her accommodation in Whalley Range later today (Tuesday).

Manjeet Kaur, 32, who is wheelchair-bound, has been living in Oaklea, Upper Chorlton Road. She sought asylum in the UK following the disappearance in India of her husband Amitt Bhatt, a journalist and human rights activist. Her husband had been threatened and attacked for his journalistic work before his disappearance in February this year. Afterwards, Manjeet continued to receive threats, by post and over the phone. She has also been physically attacked.

Although Manjeet's solicitors are still working on her asylum case to see if there are grounds for a judicial review, the UKBA has withdrawn her housing support and she has been told she must leave her accommodation by 5pm today.

See this press release

Update: Manjeet's housing provider has now said that she can stay in her home until Thursday (26/05). She can only hope to find alternative accommodation by then.

The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Yvonne Creswell, and her husband Alan will be guests at
a social evening in support of playwright Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey,
who are still waiting to hear if they will be given leave to appeal against the decision to
deport them.
See press release for more details on the evening and Lydia & Bernard's campaign.
Flyer for the event below:

During Manchester Refugee Month, a celebration of Afghan history and culture, and discussion about both the current situation in the country, and the UK's response to asylum seekers from Afghanistan.

6pm on 18th June at the Cheetham Hill Welcome Centre:
2 Greenhill Road,
Cheetham Hill, 
Greater Manchester,
M8 9LG 

4 speakers: 
    - Constance Wyndham of the British Museum- 'Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World' 
    - Rohulluah Yakobi, a Politics student and prominent member and spokesperson of the Afghan community of Wolverhampton 
    - Longsight Councillor Dr. Aftab Ahmed 
    - Nahella Ashraf of Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition

There will be traditional music from Afghanistan, as well as a local Manchester musical duo. We will be serving traditional Afghan cuisine cooked on site.  

£5 - waged
£2 - desititute/unwaged  
£2 + donation  - plate of afghan food 

  You can buy tickets either via http://www.eventelephant.com/afghanistaninreality, or by calling the RAPAR office on 0161 834 8221

PLEASE COME, SHARE AND ENJOY

- Robert Fisk in the Independent: Why no outcry over these torturing tyrants?
- Patrick Cockburn in the Independent: Bahrain is trying to drown the protests in Shia blood
- BBC North West Tonight report on the Manchester Bahraini students who have had their lives threatened and all their funding removed by the Bahraini government after participating in protests against it in Manchester.

- Stop the executions of four young Bahraini men - http://stop-executions-in-bahrain.tumblr.com/

Press release about the group of Bahraini nationals and international lawyers who have lodged war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against the Al-Khalifa family regime.

Story in the Bolton News here

See website: http://stop-executions-in-bahrain.tumblr.com/

PRESS RELEASE Wednesday, May 4th 2011
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT KATH GRANT 07812471047

BAHRAINIS IN GREATER MANCHESTER CALL FOR UK GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION TO PREVENT UNLAWFUL EXECUTIONS

A group of Bahrainis in Greater Manchester have called on the UK Government and the international community to make an immediate intervention following the death sentences passed on four civilians by a special military court after a trial held behind closed doors.

The campaign group, which also includes Bahrainis throughout Britain and Europe, is demanding a halt to the executions. It is also demanding that the government in Bahrain suspends the current State of National Safety, releases detainees and engages in dialogue with its people. Amnesty International has urged the Bahraini government to stop the executions.

On April 28th, a military court in Bahrain sentenced four young men, all aged 20 or under, to death.  Abdullah Hassan al-Sankis, Qassim Hassan Matar, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed and Abdulaziz Abdulridha Ibrahim Hussain were tried before a special military court which barred access to the public – even though they are all civilians.

The trial was conducted behind closed doors and the sentenced men have no right of appeal except to another special military court. The entire process raises great concerns about basic justice.

The four young men were sentenced to death after being accused of the premeditated murder of two policemen. The military prosecution alleged that the accused ran over the policemen with a vehicle on March 16 2011. Three other young defendants were tried with them: Issa Abdullah Kadhim Ali, Sadeq Ali Mahdi and Hussein Jaafar Abdulkarim. All of them were sentenced to life imprisonment by the same court.

Death sentences can usually be appealed in Bahrain's military court. However, if the appeal fails, the final verdict cannot then be appealed in Bahrain's ordinary courts. The four men are therefore facing imminent execution. According to Amnesty International (here) the men completely denied the charges.

On 15th March 2011, the Bahrain King, Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, declared a state of emergency which was described as the State of National Safety (SNS). It provided for the establishment of a special military court to try those accused of offences under emergency powers. This cut off the right to appeal the judgments.

Since the SNS was imposed, more than 500 people have been arrested and many of them have been detained and kept incommunicado and at undisclosed locations. At least four people have died in detention in suspicious circumstances since the end of March. Amnesty International article here. Wire Update article here.

Many of the detainees were taken from their homes, often at night, by groups of police and security forces who wore masks, failed to produce arrest warrants and sometimes assaulted the detainees and members of their families.

Bahrain is in the grip of a deepening human rights crisis and the severity of the sentences imposed so far threatens the potential for future reconciliation and dialogue between the government and opposition in Bahrain.

The campaign group in Greater Manchester is demanding that the international community and UK government intervene immediately to prevent these unlawful and unjust executions. The government of Bahrain must suspend the State of National Safety (SNS), release all prisoners and detainees and engage in meaningful and peaceful dialogue with its people.


Please urge the UK Foreign Office to intervene to prevent these unlawful and unjust executions.

Contact details for Foreign Secretary William Hague:

Westminster
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 4611 
haguew@parliament.uk

Constituency
Unit 1, Omega Business Village, Thurston Road, Northallerton, DL6 2NJ
Tel: 01609 779093
Fax: 01609 778172
plattj@parliament.uk


Please also write to the Bahraini authorities to urge them to:

·         halt these unlawful and unjust executions of four young men
·         suspend the 'State of National Safety'
·         release all prisoners and detainees
·         engage in meaningful and peaceful dialogue with the Bahraini people

PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO:  (Time difference = GMT + 3 hrs / BST + 2 hrs)

King
Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King
P.O. Box 555
Rifa'a Palace, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax:                     +973 17664587
Salutation:          Your Majesty

Prime Minister
Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 1000, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax:                     +973 17533033
Salutation:          Your Highness

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs
Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khlaifa
Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs,
Fax:                     +973 175 31 284
Salutation:          Your Excellency

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEAL TO:
Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa,
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain,
30 Belgrave Square,
London SW1X 8QB.
Fax:                     020 7201 9183.
E-mail:                information@bahrainembassy.co.uk

Yesterday morning in Westminster Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, raised the debate regarding the government’s proposed funding cuts to ESOL (English tuition for speakers of other languages). We are grateful to her for contacting RAPAR, prior to this debate, asking if she could draw on some points made in our earlier comment piece on ESOL, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to the discussion in this way. The transcript of the debate is here.

The cuts – in Heidi’s words, ‘woefully short-sighted’ – will make accessing English tuition nigh-on impossible for huge numbers of people who vitally need it. Furthermore, they represent a clanging contradiction to David Cameron’s pronouncements on the importance of all British citizens/residents being proficient in English, and his bemoaning of the supposed ‘failure’ of multiculturalism. It is very strange for the government to insist that all citizens must speak a good level of English, and then seek to implement a policy that will make access to English training extremely difficult.

We once again urge the government to abandon this ill-conceived policy, and salute Heidi for raising the debate in Parliament, and making the case so well yesterday. We hope to continue to link with her over this and similar issues.