Urgent Stop Charity Mutebwa’s deportation to Uganda

"I stopped eating because I was given a removal letter which was to take me back to Uganda it was on 16 August which was stopped by my solicitor. Today I was given another removal letter to remove me on 18 October.

"I need you to intervene and help me. I have explained to Immigration my whole story - that I have no home, my family has died and no one to help me in Uganda and that I was tortured and raped.

"I escaped from government detention and I am not safe if I return to Uganda. Please I need your help, I will be very grateful." Charity Mutebwa, Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre 12/10/05

Charity Mutebwa was taken to Uganda after her Rwandan parents were slaughtered in the genocide of 1994. As supporters of an opposition party, her husband and brother were killed. She was detained, and was repeatedly gang-raped by government soldiers.

She escaped and fled to the UK but the Home Office and the courts dismissed her account of her experiences. Her case was badly handled by her legal representatives - she later discovered the person representing her was a translator not a solicitor. The firm then claimed to have no knowledge of her case and that they did not have her documents, so she could not get another solicitor to pursue her claim.

Charity was detained in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre pending her forcible return to Uganda. Here, together with a number of other Ugandan & Zimbabwean women, she began a hunger strike. Her deportation order should have been stopped when a new solicitor issued legal proceedings the day before she was due to go. However, she was still taken to Heathrow airport. It was only when she insisted on calling her lawyer that the Home Office confirmed she should not be deported.

Charity was extremely weak and sick from her hunger strike but instead of returning to Yarl’s Wood, she was taken on a gruelling 12-hour journey to Dungavel Detention Centre in Scotland. She was not allowed to leave the van.

Charity’s new lawyer is pursuing her asylum claim. However, an application for Judicial Review has just been turned down and she has been issued with a removal date of 18th October.

Charity Mutebwa has no family or home, let alone job, to return to.

Women who seek asylum have been driven to take drastic actions because they fear for their lives if returned to countries they fled. They believe they will suffer further persecution, and even death. Police or soldiers raped many. Some, like Charity Mutebwa, witnessed their loved ones being killed in front of them. Yet despite their compelling evidence, rape survivors are routinely refused safety and protection in the UK.

What you can do to help: you can fax/ring or write to the Minister: From the UK Fax: 020-7219 2417 or 020 8424 2319, Telephone: 020-7219 4108 or 020 8427 2100. From outside the UK: Fax + 20-7219 2417 or + 20 8424 2319, Telephone + 20 7219 4108 or + 20 8427 2100

Or write to: Tony McNulty Minister for Immigration Home Office 3rd Floor Peel Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

Please send a copy of anything sent to SACC

’Charity Must Stay’ ’Scotland Against Criminalising Communities’ (SACC) C/o Peace and Justice Centre, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ United Kingdom info@sacc.org.uk

Get your friends to visit Charity’s Webpage and download the model letter:

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/newszine63/charity.htm