Isa Muazu is a Nigerian man who was seeking sanctuary in the UK. After refusing food for some weeks, he became very ill, but the Home Office refused to release him from detention.

They tried to remove him, in a traumatic charter flight that was turned back by the Nigerian authorities. And then on 17 December he was deported on a mass deportation charter flight.

Very sad to report that Isa and others were deported. It was good to hear that last minute legal action saved some, but, as Unity points out, this also highlights the injustice in the fast track system. We know that many of those removed had a legal right to stay, if only they had had a chance to prove this (tho we believe all have a moral right to live where they choose). Thank you to Unity Centre and everyone who took action in support of Isa and the others.

Message from Unity Centre, 18 Dec:

Unfortunately we can confirm that Isa Muazu was removed from the UK last night along with another Nigerian woman called Josephine. Fortunately though, we’ve just spoken to the other six people we were supporting who were due to be removed on the same Charter Flight as Isa and Josephine and all six of them made it off the flight and are still in the UK!

The very fact that six people had to be taken off a Charter Flight at the final hour is clear evidence in itself that the Fast-Track system does not give people enough time to have their cases assessed fairly and that we need to fight to challenge the Home Office’s use of Charter Flights for mass expulsion of asylum-seekers!

Our thoughts remain with Isa and Josephine….

SOLIDARITY, UNITY

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Update, 12 December

Jasmine Sallis, volunteer at Glasgow’s Unity Centre, writes at Open Democracy:

Drastic and costly actions to remove Isa so far have included chartering a private jet, organising three months of sponsored health care in Nigeria, instructing a Crown solicitor the night before the attempted deportation and deploying doctors’ reports that did not involve an actual examination of the patient.

The UK government hired a private jet to deport Isa Muasu to Nigeria in the early hours of Friday 29 November, at a reported cost of around £100,000. The next day he was back in Britain, the plane having been refused entry to Nigerian airspace.

On the night of Tuesday 10 December, Muasu was issued with fresh removal directions — for 17 December, on a charter flight with other Nigerian nationals who are currently fighting immigration cases in detention centres across the country. Read more >

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21 November. Update from Detention Forum:

We call on the Home Secretary to release Isa Muazu from detention immediately.

Today’s application for interim relief was refused and Isa remains in detention. We fear that Isa might not survive until his appeal hearing on 25 November. The Detention Forum is extremely concerned that Isa may die as a result of a hardened stance being taken towards immigrants and people held in UK detention centres. Read the full statement here.

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20 November. Message from Detention Forum:

Many of you will be aware of a serious hunger strike case in Harmondsworth. There was a High Court hearing yesterday [19 Nov] which refused his release from detention, despite medical evidence. There has been some media coverage of the case. The man is called Isa Muazu and he has been on hunger strike for over 85 days. He is very close to death, and rather than releasing him, an “end of life plan” has been drawn up. This is the sharp edge of the hardened stance being taken by the Home Office, and has much wider implications if we do not act.