Mansoor Hassan's case returns to court [Posted
05/05/06]
Mansoor (centre) with Jenny Lennox handing copies of fresh application
for asylum to Tony Lloyd MP
The two-year long NUJ-backed campaign to stop the deportation
of exiled journalist, Mansoor Hassan has reached a crucial legal
stage, with a fresh application for asylum and human rights protection
being made to the Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate
this week.
Mansoor's legal team are aiming to show that his rising journalistic
profile has increased the danger of violent retribution to him
and his family should he be deported back to Pakistan.
Mansoor fled Pakistan with his wife Aqila and their four children.
He had been an investigative journalist and editor of an Urdu language
magazine called 'Crime'. He was responsible for exposing corruption
within the business community and the political elite of Pakistan.
During he work, Mansoor exposed a company, which was owned by
the Minister for Agriculture in Pakistan, for selling adulterated
pesticides and substandard cottonseed to farmers. A government
MP, Mehmood Khan was exposed for his involvement in an 'honour
killing' which led to the brutal murder of a women who refused
to enter into an arranged marriage.
As a result of these investigations, Mansoor Hassan was subjected
to threats and violence. Following his exposé of the government,
he was beaten up in his newspaper office and continued to receive
intimidating threats. His car was rammed from the road and his
father's house was burned down. He was also shot and there was
an attempt to poison him and his family at a restaurant.
After he had exposed a link between politicians and a narcotics
gang, he was finally forced to leave Pakistan. He now lives in
Manchester.
Story NUJ, Photo Bob Pounder
http://www.nuj.org.uk/inner.php?docid=1323
Mansoor Hassan Campaign Wins Support at Fire Brigades Union Conference
At the FBU Annual Conference in Southport on Friday 13th May 2005.
Mansoor Hassan received the unanimous support of the Fire Brigades
Union for his campaign to remain in Britain.
Tim Fensome, FBU delegate
from Greater Manchester moved Emergency Resolution 6 supporting
Mansoor's right to stay, the resolution was seconded by Steve Harman
of the Lancashire Fire Brigades Union.
A solid endorsement of support
was given by the Union's newly elected General Secretary, Matt
Wrack.
Feedback: Mansoor
Hassan Public Meeting 9th November 2004
Union
pledges support for journalist asylum seeker
Come to the Mansoor
Hassan Campaign Meeting Tuesday 16th November 2004 – 7pm
National Union of Journalists office
5th Floor
Arthur House
Chorlton Street (opposite the bus station)
Manchester
Death threats in Pakistan
"
I am a journalist - I thought it was important to let people know
the truth. I didn't want to sit back and watch government corruption
going on around me. But reporting it endangered my life and my family's
life."
Investigative journalist Mansoor Hassan (40), his wife Aqila (38)
who is a Teacher, and their three daughters ; Mashal (4), Masooma
(8), and Amrat (10), and their son Taimoor (11).
Mansoor Hassan worked as an investigative journalist, exposing senior
officials' criminal activities in Pakistan where, according to Human
Rights Watch, the government "systematically violates the fundamental
rights" of journalists "through threats, harassment, and arbitrary
arrests". Mansoor's asylum claim has been rejected - he and
his family face removal.
He wrote an article exposing the Honour Killing of a young woman
by her own father, a member of the provincial assembly - Mansoor
was attacked by the father's family and says they burned his house
down. The asylum appeal adjudicator accepted that Mansoor wrote
the article and was subsequently attacked.
Mansoor wrote about a company owned by the Minister of Agriculture
that sold toxic substances to farmers - the Minister's henchmen
beat Mansoor up, and his family was threatened by the secret services
and the police. The adjudicator accepted that Mansoor wrote that
article and was threatened as a consequence.
A known criminal and murderer shot at Mansoor after he wrote an
article about him, which the adjudicator also accepted.
Mansoor's family were poisoned in a restaurant - the adjudicator
said that "I accept that the Appellant and his family were the subject
of severe barbiturate poisoning but I do not accept that this was
deliberate".
During all these assaults and attacks in Pakistan, Mansoor and his
family were forced to move from one city to another, but the people
he had exposed were continually persecuting them. Referred to in
the Home Office's own 2004 Country Report on Pakistan "journalists
across the country complained of increased harassment and intimidation,
often by personnel of intelligence agencies". Mansoor said they
could not rely on any protection by the Pakistan police. Ultimately,
he fled Pakistan in 2002 for the safety of his young children and
claimed asylum in the UK.
In
their "Threats to Journalists Escalate" 03/12/03 report, Human Rights
Watch says that the Pakistan government "has systematically violated
the fundamental rights of members of the press corps through threats,
harassment, and arbitrary arrests". The US State Department's "Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003" released in February 2004
says that "Provincial and local governments occasionally arrested
journalists and closed newspapers that were critical of the Government
or printed allegedly offensive material" and that "Journalists were
targets of harassment and violence by individuals and groups".
Having accepted that as a consequence of his investigative journalism,
Mansoor had been subjected to a series of threats, attacked, and
shot at, the adjudicator described these experiences merely as "anxiety",
that Mansoor would be "perfectly safe somewhere else in Pakistan"
and that he was "not at any on-going risk".
Since Mansoor left Pakistan, the Minister of Agriculture has become
a Federal Minister - even more powerful and even more of a threat
to Mansoor and his family. Human Rights Watch say that that
the "military government is becoming increasingly intolerant of
press freedoms in Pakistan" and that "the arrest of editors and
reporters from local and regional newspapers on charges of sedition
is becoming increasingly commonplace".
Despite their skills, Mansoor and Aqila have been denied the right
to work, pay tax and support their own family. In the two
years they have been here, Mansoor has worked as a volunteer with
the British Red Cross and a refugee orientation programme. He is
a parent governor at his childrens' school. Aqila is a teacher
and holds an MSc in Economics. She has worked on a voluntary
basis at the children's school and with a Manchester project for
children of refugees and asylum seekers. She has successfully
undertaken training as a classroom assistant, community interpreting,
ESOL, and Clait. The UK is desperately short of teachers - Agila
is a teacher and wants nothing more than to work as one.
All Mansoor and Agila's children are achieving at school ; their
Head Teacher said "they have settled very well in school, collectively
make the most of their learning opportunities, have made friends
with other children and their behaviour is always excellent. The
children are skilled communicators both verbally and in the written
form… and have made positive contributions to the life of
Varna Street School"
The National Union of Journalists and the NEM Advertiser have launched
a campaign for the Hassan Family. The NEM has subsequently received
death threats and the Hassan Family has been forced to move house.
For more information about the Hassan Family's asylum claim, please
read their leaflet (link below).
What you can do to help …
1) Cut out, fill in, and send the
'Attached' Petition the NEM Advertiser are co-ordinating
2) Fax/write to Des Browne, Minister for Immigration,
requesting that the Hassan Family be allowed to stay using the
model
letter 'Attached', which you can copy/amend/write your own -
if you use your own text, please includes the Hassan's HO ref. H1093727
Fax no : 020 7273 2043, or from outside the UK : + 44 20 7273 2043
Or write to:
Des Browne
Minister for Immigration
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
Please send a copy of anything sent to the campaign:
NUJ
5th Floor
Arthur House
Chorlton Street
Manchester
M1 3FH
mhassanmuststay@gmail.com
3 ) Invite Mansoor Hassan to invite at a public event
contact :
mhassanmuststay@gmail.com
4) Download the Help the Hassan Family Stay leaflet and distribute
The 'Attached' leaflet contains more information about the Hassan
Family's asylum claim. For volume printing, please print the two
A4's and photocopy double-sided to make one single A4. This is
a large file 1.4mega bytes MansrHassanFamilyLeaflet.pdf
Thank You! Your support can make a difference!
Source for this message:
NUJ
5th Floor
Arthur House
Chorlton Street
Manchester
M1 3FH
mhassanmuststay@gmail.com
News articles about the Hassan Family include
http://www.nemadvertiser.co.uk/news/index/articles/article_id=1737.html
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/129/129985_fears_for_family_as_their_final_plea_fails.html
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/campaigns/2004/09sep/040915asl.shtml
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/campaigns/2004/10oct/041019tht.shtml
Mansoor
Hassan website : http://www.mhassan.com/index.html
Mansoor
Hassan Newsfeed : http://www.thecrime.org/viewnews.asp?id=28&name=National
Source for this page;
NUJ
5th Floor
Arthur House
Chorlton Street
Manchester
M1 3FH
mhassanmuststay@gmail.com
