Juliet & Ashleen - Still here

Dear friends,
Thank you for your messages of support and faxes on behalf of Juliet Nakajja. Her removal was stopped at the eleventh hour after a Judicial Review of the Home Office's refusal to accept her fresh asylum claim was lodged. We expect that she will be able to be released from detention soon, and will let you know. Juliet was very heartened by the support she knew she was getting from others, as were we, who have been campaigning to stop her removal.

Best wishes,
Rayah

Urgent Help Needed for Juliet & Ashleen Nakajja

Juliet Nakajja and her 18-month-old daughter Ashleen have been taken from Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre to the airport to be removed to Uganda tonight. Her lawyers are in the process of lodging a Judicial Review to stop this forced removal. However we are asking everyone who can to fax British Airways (BA) calling for BA to refuse to carry her just in case the Judicial Review is not lodged in time. 

This email contains background to Juliet's case, please use the attached "model letter" NakajjaBAfax.doc. and fax to Willie Walsh, BA Chief Executive Officer British Airways.  

Please circulate this message widely to your networks

You can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include Juliet's removal flight details: British Airways flight BA63 departing Heathrow airport at 21.15 Friday 28 September 2007.

Fax: 020 8759 4314 (0044 20 8759 4314 if you are faxing from outside UK)

Lawyers are seeking to lodge a last minute Judicial Review in the High Court to stop the forced removal of Ugandan political refugee and rape victim Juliet Nakajja and her 16-month-old daughter Ashleen.

In a dawn raid last week, immigration officers broke down the front door of Juliet's house in Hackney and took mother and daughter to Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre near Bedford. Juliet was still awaiting the results of a fresh asylum claim when the pair were detained and scheduled for deportation to Uganda on British Airways tonight.

Juliet Nakajja fled to the UK 13 February 2002. Both agents of the state murdered her parents in Uganda, and her 3 brothers have disappeared. Juliet's father was a leading supporter of Dr Kiza Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change party (FDR). Juliet joined the Uganda Youth Democratic Party (UYDP) and accompanied her father on campaigns. Dr Besigye lost the 2001 election and accused President Museveni of rigging the vote. Around August 2001 soldiers started arresting, detaining and torturing leading campaigners in the FDR.

One evening soldiers entered the house, beat Juliet's father and then put him and her mother into a truck. Juliet heard her mother screaming. She never heard her father's voice again. Juliet was driven off, hit and raped by soldiers and then placed in an army barracks cell. A substance sprayed in her eyes caused vision disturbances, reduced hearing and loss of smell ever since. She was raped again.

Juliet was forced to become a soldier's 'wife' and kept under guard. One day 2 members of the UYDP beat her guard and helped her escape. She was taken to an agent in Kampala where she learned that her mother had been killed. Friends of her father paid US$3,000 for Juliet to escape.

On 28 March 2002 the Secretary of State refused her asylum application but granted Exceptional Leave to Remain until 21 January 2003. However, further leave was refused. A fresh application for asylum was later submitted, but Juliet was still waiting for the outcome last week.

Juliet is an active member of Hackney Refugee and Migrant Support Group and has also been involved in the planning group for the proposed Hackney Migrant Centre of which she was appointed a Trustee.

Please send a copy of any fax you send to:

Juliet Nakajja support campaign
Hackney Refugee and Migrant Support Group
C/o Hackney Community Law Centre
8 Lower Clapton Road
London E5 0PD
Tel: 077 9199 1416
Fax: 020 8525 1391
Or email: rayah@gn.apc.org