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Anselme Noumbiwa
Anselme Noumbiwa fled Cameroon in 2006 because he was at risk of punishment for not adhering to the tribal traditions of the *Bamileke people. As the son and heir to the tribal Chief, Anselme was expected to assume his father's role, which included 'marrying' his many wives. When his father died in May 2006, Anselme refused to become the new Chief because polygamy contravened his Christian beliefs. In an attempt to force Anselme to comply with tradition, the village elders subjected him to the most degrading and terrifying torture. Read more about Anselme's story >>>
Anselme was detained yet again on 14 April 2010. He was due to be deported on 21 April, but the deportation charter flight was cancelled due to the volcano in Iceland. Anselme has kept his campaign updated on twitter , and has had good press coverage in the Independent and the Morning Star.
Removal directions have been set, even though Anselme is still waiting for the medico-legal report of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Torture Victims to submit as evidence for his claim for asylum.
Update, 28 April 2010
The UKBA has finally managed to forcibly remove Anselme from the UK. As Anselme sat in his detention cell at 5:16am on 28 April 2010, his phone was ringing out, and campaign supporter Jackie sent out a message via Twitter:
"Am reading the wise and supportive words of the 1150 people who signed the petition, trying to restore my faith in humanity."
Removal directions set for 28 April 2010
Please urgently email and fax the Home Secretary your support for Anselme to have his removal cancelled.
Always quote the Home Office reference number N1126839
Download the model letter here
and send by fax or email to:
Alan Johnson MP (Home Secretary) -
Fax: 020 8760 3132
(00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK)
Email: UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Please can you send this letter or your own version of it, to Alan Johnson. If you have any useful media contacts do please give them our phone contacts, but do not alert Cameroonian media: Catherine Ramos 07940 666906 and Jackie Fearnley 0779 1479309 – and if possible e mail the campaign to let us know of letters sent: Jackie.fearnley@beevitalpropolis.com
Please do emphasise the fact that the Home Office cannot in any way guarantee Anselme’s safety if they return him. Thank you.
Online petition for Anselme Noumbiwa http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/anselme/index.html
Anselme Noumbiwa back in Tees Valley (Posted 01/09/09)
"Anselme was released from Brook House IRC at 16:00 yesterday and is back home, exhausted but otherwise in good spirits. Speaking from home this morning he sends his heartfelt thanks to all who have been supporting him over the last week. For the time being he is safe but he is not forgetting those Cameroonians still in detention and facing removal by charter flight. He will be with others trying to organize a demonstration against the charter flight to be held outside Home Office Reporting Centre Dallas Court Manchester this Friday coming."
End this injustice - Fifth attempt to remove Anselme Noumbiwa! (Posted 28 August 2009)
Anselme Noumbiwa, a Cameroon national and resident of Tees Valley, is currently detained in Brookhouse IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK. He has been given 'Open ended Removal Directions', served on Wednesday 26th August, that he will be removed, not sooner than 5 days from that date but not later than 15 days.
We do not know who the carrier is as UKBA have suppressed the information and do not know the date/time as the Removal Directions were open ended but believe the removal is imminent.
Online petition for Anselme Noumbiwa http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/anselme/index.html
To: the Home Secretary
We, the undersigned want to draw your attention to the injustice and dangers of returning Anselme Noumbiwa (Home Office Ref. N1126839) to Cameroon.
Anselme fled Cameroon in 2006 because on the death of his father, the village Chief, he was expected to 'marry' his father's wives. He suffered brutal treatment at the hands of the village notables when he would not adhere to tribal traditions, preferring instead to identify himself with Christian ethics. His story was believed by the Home Office, but he was told that he could relocate within Cameroon and would be safe. This is not the case, as the influence of powerful members of his tribe reaches beyond the area where he lived. If he is sent back to Cameroon, he will be in mortal danger. We ask you to allow him to stay in the UK.
Anselme Noumbiwa - flight cancelled!
"The charter flight to Cameroon has been cancelled by the Home Office, and Anselme’s removal has been deferred. The barrister was in the middle of trying to get an injunction when the cancellation news arrived – so they are going back to a judge again tomorrow. But Anselme has a Medical Foundation appointment in June, so we are hoping they will release him as soon as possible. Meanwhile we must keep up the pressure, because there is a lot of media interest and important issues being raised. Thank you so much to all who helped so far. The messages of support have kept us going. It is great news for all the Cameroonians.
End this injustice - Fourth attempt to remove Anselme Noumbiwa! (May 2009)
Anselme Noumbiwa, a Cameroon national and resident of Tees Valley, is currently detained in Colnbrook IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Friday 1st May on flight PVT002 @ 01:00 to Cameroon.
We do not know who the carrier is as UKBA have suppressed the information.
The third attempt to remove Anselme (Friday 24th October 2008) was foiled when Anselme put on an Air France flight at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport appealed to passengers to get him off the plane; the response was overwhelming. Passengers stood up and demanded Anselme be removed from the plane, the French airport police were brought onto the plane to try and persuade the passengers to sit down and let the flight proceed, they refused, so Anselme was taken off the plane and returned to the UK.
Anselme Noumbiwa / French passengers protest stops removal (24th October 2008)
Anselme was removed from the UK on a BA flight on Thursday morning from London Heathrow; Anselme's appeal to the passengers to stop his removal on the BA flight fell on deaf ears and the flight proceeded on the first leg to Paris.
However when Anselme was put on to an Air France flight at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and again appealed to passengers the response was overwhelming. Passengers stood up and demanded Anselme be removed from the plane, the French airport police were brought onto the plane to try and persuade the passengers to sit down and let the flight proceed, they refused, so Anselme was taken off the plane and returned to the UK. He is now in Colnbrook Short Term Holding and can be contacted on 020 8607 5200 Ex 678 or 079 1938 8365. Anselme alleges escorts again roughed him up.
Anselme Noumbiwa - Back in Middlesbrough where he belongs
"What better way could I have started the day than to receive a 'phone call from Anselme who was released from detention yesterday and is safe, relatively well (considering his experiences) and now staying in Middlesbrough!
I have no doubt that the strength of public feeling and the protests to both the Minister and the airline have played a significant part in sustaining the profile of Anselme's case and highlighting the injustice and potential danger of the Home Office decision.
Anselme is sitting in my office as I write this and passes on his heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to sign a petition, make a 'phone call or lobby on his behalf.
He was overwhelmed by the love, support and prayers not only of his friends, but from those who had never met him, but cared enough to become involved in the campaign.
I wish you could see the smile on his face."
Best wishes and thanks,
Kath Sainsbury for Anselme Campaign
kjusticefirst@btconnect.com
Anselme Noumbiwa, still here, still fighting. Colnbrook Thursday 17th July 2008
"Monday about 4.30 the escorts picked me up from Colnbrook IRC to Heathrow airport to deport me to Cameroon where I escape due to torture and violence when I succeeded my father and refused to followed the Bamiléké tribe.
The escorts were five people, brought me near the flight, one hold my left hand, other on my right hand another one in front of me and two behind me.
When we reach the flight's door I say to them I can return in the same country, I tried to hold the flight's door with my hand and they started to harm me, put me the handcuff hurt me with that, they carried me on to the plane and I tried to shout and say I'm not a criminal or robber, I'm asylum seeker why do you treat me like this. They hold my finger on the two hand and press out to break I cried.
One airline staff man came and say we can't carry this man why did you treat him like that. They continued to harm me and the man of airline gone and came back with a lady who came and complain. Then the escorts took me off the plane and brought me back to Colnbrook."
Anselme Noumbiwa, Colnbrook Thursday 17th July 2008
Anselme Noumbiwa fled Cameroon in 2006 because he was at risk of punishment for not adhering to the tribal traditions of the *Bamileke people. As the son and heir to the tribal Chief, Anselme was expected to assume his father's role, which included 'marrying' his many wives. When his father died in May 2006, Anselme refused to become the new Chief because polygamy contravened his Christian beliefs. In an attempt to force Anselme to comply with tradition, the village elders subjected him to the most degrading and terrifying torture.
Anselme's application for asylum was refused and the Immigration Judge who heard his appeal rejected the account of his experiences despite compelling evidence in the form of a newspaper account of his ordeal in L'Effort Camerounais, the newspaper of the Catholic Bishop's Conference in Cameroon. Anselme has since substantiated his evidence by providing an official letter from the Editor of L'Effort testifying to the veracity of the article and the integrity of the newspaper. He has also produced a medico-legal report commissioned by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture documenting his trauma and a report on Bamileke traditions, which is consistent with his story of abuse.
All of this has been rejected by the Home Office, who say that even in the event that his story were true, he could relocate to another part of Cameroon. Anselme's claim has therefore been refused, as has an application by Anselme's solicitors for a judicial review of the case.
Anselme's Member of Parliament, Dari Taylor, has made personal representations to Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, but her pleas on his behalf have been rejected.
Anselme has lived in Tees Valley since July 2006. He attends Sacred Heart RC Church, is active in the local community and was studying English at Stockton Riverside College. His many friends and supporters are outraged at the unjust and inhumane manner in which Home Office officials have treated Anselme's case.
*The Bamileke (French Bamiléké) are a collection of Semi-Bantu (or Grassfields Bantu) ethnic groups most highly concentrated in the western highlands of Cameroon's West Province, west of the Noun River and southeast of the Bamboutos Mountains and in the Mungo region of the Littoral, Southwest, and Centre Provinces. The Bamileke divide themselves into over 100 individual groups, each under the rule of a chief or fon.
USA: Human Rights Report: Cameroon 2008
The government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit human rights abuses, particularly following widespread February riots to protest increased food and fuel costs. Security forces committed numerous unlawful killings. Security forces also engaged in torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening. There were incidents of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy rights. The government restricted citizens' freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association, and harassed journalists. The government also impeded citizens' freedom of movement. Other problems included widespread official corruption. The government restricted worker rights and the activities of independent labor organizations.
Bureau Of Democracy, Human Rights, And Labor / February 25, 2009