Badi Family must Stay !!!

Matus Badi and is wife Renata and their three children Marketa,Dominique, and Mateus have been sent removals Directions for the 21/8/02 . This is extremely worrying . The record of Belgium with regard to the Roma is dreadful, mass expulsions are normal, this is because they do not accept non-state persecution as a valid reason for asylum. Yet still this government refuses to acknowledge the danger of sending this family back to Belgium.

Matous is at present being kept in Harmondsworth, while his wife and children are waiting for immigration to 'snatch' them sometime before next Wednesday. This has realised the worst fears of the family.

Matous said to me that at least if he was sent back his family might be safe. Now it looks as if the whole family is going to be deported.

We are still hoping that the government may br persuaded to think again and we are waiting for new evidence of these deportations from Belgium to be sent to his solicitor who is hoping to launch a last-minute judicial review.

As the removal date is imminent we too are now thinking in terms of actions so we can delay the removal enough for long enough to accumulate new evidence and get the judicial review launched

Please Fax the Home Office Urgently on 0207 273 2043 and help to get this removals order lifted. Use this model letter, copy, amend, write your own.

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Dear Mrs Hughes

I am writing to ask you to urgently reconsider the decision to deport Matous Badi (ref DVE 118545) and his wife; Renata and three children, Marketa aged 10 Dominic 5 and Matous 3 to Belgium.

Mr Badi‚s and his families asylum application have been rejected as a third country applicants on the grounds that they passed through Belgium on his way to the UK. His claim for asylum is compelling. Many of his family have already been given status in this country for the same reason. The case was very high profile in the Czech Republic and in Europe

We know that Belgium has already had a ruling made against it by the European Court of Human Rights for deporting Roma back to Slovakia. This reflects a wider culture in which Roma are being deported from Belgium sometimes en-masse to the Czech republic and, until and since the above case, to Slovakia.

There are documented cases of families being sent straight back from Belgium by coach and refused permission even to claim asylum.

A Czech Asylum Seeker was beaten and kept in Belgian Police cells for 3 days without food when returned from Waterloo,then returned to the Czech Republic.

In Matous‚s case if he and his family are sent back to the Czech republic their lives will be in great danger. Matous Badi like many of his family was driven out of his home town of Orlova. He and his elder brother were witnesses to the notorious murder of Milan Lacko who was attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads and then driven over by a police car. Matous's brothers and relatives are in the UK survivors of death threats, knife attacks rape and atrocities from skinheads and grave human rights violations from state agents.

Matous's brother in law Ota Absolon the brother of Matous's wife Renata was murdered in broad daylight the town of Svitavy.

Ota Absolon was another witness to the Lacko murder. This murder was only possible as a neo-nazi ex convict murderer was let out on bail while awaiting sentence for another racial attack.

On arriving in England Matous was dispersed to Birmingham with his wife Renata and their three children. His family arrived here with emotional and mental problems from trauma and their son Matous has post traumatic epilepsy.

If Matous and his family are removed to Belgium there is a strong possibility they will be removed back to the Czech republic

Please reconsider the implications for the family to be returned to such a dangerous situation . A situation that is well documented and the terrible events of which have had much news coverage in the Czech republic

Yours Sincerely

Badi Family must Stay !!!

Matous and Renata Badi and their three children Marketa, aged 10, Dominique, 5 and their son Matous, 3 ,came to this country fleeing racial persecution and murder !

The family are Czech Roma and are faced with the prospect of deportation back to Belgium this week. As 'third' country applicants‚ the terrible circumstances that have driven them to come here may never be heard in a court in this country. Neither in Belgium for that matter, since as is well documented, the Belgian government does not accept that non-state persecution as a valid reason to claim asylum. So since the failure of applications on technical details seems to be the en-vogue of both the British and Belgian governments the prospects for the Badi family are indeed worrying.

Matous and his family arrived in the country on the 17th December 2001, they were dispersed to Birmingham; where until recently they lived, their children attending a local school. Little Matous is suffering from trauma related epilepsy and Renata has become quite ill since her husband has been detained.

Two months ago , when their first application was rejected, Matous was picked up, separated from his family and taken to Dover Removal centre. Last Wednesday he was moved to Harmondsworth detention centre.

Matous‚s two brothers are also refugees here and have been granted leave to remain as a result of the same circumstances as Matous. They witnessed the murder of a family friend who was beaten up by Skinheads and then driven over by a Police car.

One of the witnesses to these events, Ota Absolon, Matous Badi's brother-in-law was subsequently killed by a neo-nazi skinhead, in an unprovoked attack. His sentence for this crime was a two year prison sentence from which he has already been bailed. One must also bear in mind that a murder committed by a Roma would carry a twenty five year sentence in the Czech republic.

As co-witnesses to these events Matous, like the rest of his family is in very real danger if he is returned to the Czech republic. This will be the likely outcome if he is returned to Belgium, a country which has expelled Roma en-masse to the Czech republic and does not recognise non-state persecution.

On August 1st the Home Office attempted to deport Matous to Belgium without his passport and without £200.00 that had been collected by campaigners for the family and that has mysteriously gone missing in Matous‚s journey from Dover to Harmondsworth. The attempt failed when it was found that the Home Office had sent the deportation order to the wrong people (what trauma for all concerned!), but has only been postponed till this coming week.

The Badi family must stay campaign need your help:

Model letters and petitions are available from the campaign,

goldfish1967@hotmail.com

For further information ring:

020 7267 8198 or mobile 07890 939 253