| Please help Luc Antoine Sambou |
Please help Luc Antoine Sambou
Luc was detained when reporting at the Home Office in Glasgow on Friday 15th August. He was taken to Dungavel IRC and then shortly after moved to Colnbrook and then to Dover IRC. Luc arrived in the UK in September 2001 and has lived in Glasgow for almost eight years. He had to flee Congo when he was only 16, because his father was involved with the UPADS (Union Panafricaine pour la Démocratie Sociale), which supported President Lissouba. His mother had died when Luc was very young. When civil war broke out in 1997, a coup took place in Brazzaville and Denis Sassou Nguesso took power. Sometime after this Luc's father was murdered by soldiers supporting the new government. Luc looked for three days to find his father's remains left in the forest, so he could bury him. After this, the secret police came to his home and beat and questioned him, believing that he had information regarding his father's political activities. They told him they would kill him if he did not find the information for them. A local priest helped Luc to escape to the UK. Luc has built a life for himself in Glasgow with his wife Nadia, whom he married in 2007. Luc is very active in his church in Glasgow, Christ the King church, which he attends three times a week. Luc preaches and counsels people helping them getting their lives back on track. He has helped many people and made many friends. Because Luc and Nadia have separate cases, Nadia was not detained. To make matters worse Nadia suffers from a heart condition and the stress caused by Luc's detention exacerbated this and she was admitted to hospital last week and kept for several days. During the first attempt to remove Luc on the 23rd August, he was extremely scared and distressed; Luc alleges the officers used such force to try and put him on the plane they tore muscles in both his arms, which has left him in great pain and with limited movement. The whole episode was only stopped when the pilot intervened and refused to accept Luc. Luc's treatment by the officers is now the subject of a complaint and two doctors have certified his injuries. Luc is a valued and much loved member of the community here in Glasgow, we urgently need him back here where he belongs with his wife and his many friends. He arrived in Glasgow when he was very young. Both of his parents are dead and he has no family left in the Congo Brazzaville. Now a young man he has worked hard to make a good life here. He should not be sent back to Congo Brazzaville. The authorities in Congo Brazzaville are still searching for Luc even after all this time and his name recently appeared in one of the national newspapers as someone against the government. Please help us get Luc back to Glasgow where he will be safe, don't let the Home Office return him to danger! *Please take action quickly* All day to day/tomorrow Fax: 020 8759 4314 2) Please send urgent faxes/emails immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Luc Antoine Sambou be granted protection in the UK. Please download "model letter" (LucSambouJS.doc) which you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include their HO ref: S1132742). Fax: 020 8760 3132(00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK) Email: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Please let the campaign know of faxes/emails sent: End of Bulletin: Source for this Message: |
Luc from Republic of the Congo, is currently detained in Dover IRC due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Wednesday 17th September on British Airways flight BA302 @ 06:15hrs from London Heathrow Airport to Paris for onward travel to Brazzaville.