Beatrice Guessie, who has a documented history of psychiatric problems and suicide attempts, was deported to Cameroon on an Air France flight in August and says she was assaulted. She was refused entry in Cameroon because of her physical condition on arrival. She was returned to the UK, hospitalised and held in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre until 12th October 2007.

Photo above left : Beatrice in Liverpool earlier this year.
Photo above right and centre : Beatrice in Yarl's Wood after being taken to Cameroon and back.

Beatrice's story was covered by the Independent on Friday 5th October 2007 - "Beaten, bleeding - and then returned in a wheelchair" (see image left)

Beatrice says that she and her husband were persecuted in Cameroon because of their activities with the Social Democratic Front (SDF), an opposition party to the current regime.

Beatrice fled Cameroon and sought asylum in the UK over 5 years ago. She later learnt from the Red Cross that her husband was found dead in the street in June 2003. Beatrice's asylum claim has been refused.

Beatrice has continued campaigning with the SDF in the UK against the Cameroonian government, who she fears would persecute her further if she were to be deported.

Beatrice has a documented history of serious suicide attempts and has been "sectioned" to psychiatric units three times in as many years. She was last "sectioned" from Yarl's Wood to the local secure psychiatric unit. She was then taken back to Yarl's Wood and later to the airport for deportation on an Air France flight on the 28th August 2007.

Beatrice was taken to Southampton Airport by an "immigration escort team", one of whom she understood to be a doctor. Despite calls to Air France from an independent doctor and supporters expressing concerns about Bearice's fitness to fly, the forced removal went ahead.

Beatrice says she was restrained with handcuffs and leg bindings. When she complained that she was not well she says one of the escorts said "If you do not go quietly we will beat you.". She started to protest. Two of the escorts, including the one she understood to be a doctor, forced her head down into her knees, and covered her head with a jacket. Another escort put his hand over her mouth and kicked her legs.

Beatrice and the escorts transferred flights in Paris where she says a French policeman knelt on her back, and one of the escorts on her shoulders. She struggled and was "kneed" in the groin so hard that she began to bleed from her vagina. Beatrice says she had five panic attacks on the flight from Paris to Cameroon and her condition attracted the attention of the other passengers, some of whom alerted the Cameroon authorities in the airport there.

One of the officials in the airport saw Beatrice slumped between the shoulders of two of the escorts and asked them to let Beatrice walk unaided ; Beatrice immediately collapsed on the floor. A Cameroonian immigration official refused to allow Beatrice into the country, making reference to her poor physical condition and that she should normally have been put in prison in Cameroon.

Beatrice says that the escort team offered to pay several hundred US dollars to the Cameroonian immigration official but it was refused. Beatrice was put in a wheelchair and flown back to the UK.

When Beatrice arrived at Heathrow she was still bleeding. She was examined by a doctor at the airport and transferred by ambulance to Hillingdon Hospital, where she was admitted overnight and referred for a gynecology appointment. Beatrice was then taken back to Yarl's Wood.

"Her physical injuries and mental state are highly consistent with the history of her assaults during her recent attempted removal from the UK ... She should have an independent psychiatric assessment urgently... She is totally unfit to be removed to Cameroon ... There is abundant evidence that she has suffered and continues to suffer from severe and enduring mental illness; she is very vulnerable, and is at risk of suicide; her recent assault during her attempted forced removal, and her forced incarceration in a detention centre are highly likely to worsen her condition"
Dr Joseph O'Neill, GP, from Medical Visit at Yarl's Wood, 4th September 2007

From Yarl's Wood, Beatrice said she has been bleeding from her vagina sporadically, has lower abdominal pain and collapsed at one point. 

Meanwhile, supporters demanded Beatrice's release at the Stop Deporting Cameroonians Demonstration on Tuesday 9th October 2007 (photos above). Over 100 letters of support were signed. The crowd spoke to Beatrice in Yarl's Wood via mobile phone and urged her to keep strong.

In a bail hearing on the 12 th October 2007 th , the Home Office argued that Beatrice should continue to be detained.   The Immigration Judge found that there was no justification for continued detention and released Beatrice on bail.

But Beatrice is still facing deportation - please support her.

What you can do

Please write to / fax Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office, asking that Beatrice now be granted leave to remain in the UK. Please use the "model letter" BeatriceMinister3.doc or, even better, you can write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include Beatrice's Home Office Reference Number K1123945.)

Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd. Floor
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1 4DF

Fax : 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)

Please let the Beatrice Must Stay Campaign know of any faxes you have sent:
C/o Asylum Voice Liverpool
Asylum Link Merseyside
St Annes Centre
7 Overbury Street Liverpool
L7 3HJ
Fax : 0151 709 1934
Email : asylumvoice@yahoo.co.uk

Source for this Message:
Beatrice Must Stay Campaign
The Independent