In December 2008, the Home Office gave Amdani permission to marry, saying they would look sympathetically at his application to stay in the UK (because of his legal ‘right to a family life’) if he withdrew his application for what looked like being a successful the ‘Judicial Review’. But no decision was made, and Amdani and his family suffered the anxiety of 6 months of ‘immigration limbo’.

In June, however, he received a letter refusing his application and threatening to deport him to Burundi. This letter gave no reasons for this refusal – and as such broke the Home Office’s own guidelines.

This is outrageous! Giving Amdani the right to stay here should be a no-brainer! His contribution to Nottingham has been huge. 6000 people signed his e-petition. Over 200 have written letters of support. He is a role model for integration and community
cohesion. It would be another injustice for the government to split Amdani up from his wife and child and return him to the hostile environment of Burundi.

Now the Home Office seems to have changed its mind again, saying it will reconsider the case. But can we trust it? Isn’t it time that the the Home Office simply gave Amdani the positive decision we all want for him?

A torture survivor and pro-democracy activist, Amdani escaped death more than once. He has no family in Burundi; his cousin, brother and sister are all permanently resident in the UK or the Netherlands. Human Rights groups and the UN report
ongoing human rights abuses and torture in Burundi.

Here’s what you can do:

Download and print off this leaflet.

Look for us at the Carnival on the Forest this Weekend, 4th & 5th July.

Join our rally in the Market Square on Friday 24th July at 5.15pm.

Meet Amdani at the Nottingham Pride event in the Arboretum on Saturday July 25th, where Amdani will be campaigning once again to help others, in the prevention of HIV in the Black Community.

Please sign the e-petition if you haven’t: http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html

And Meet the Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xyHu3GeNYk

Thursday 9th October 2008

400 more petition signatures were faxed to the Home Office today and more people pledged their support as campaigners made preparations for a city centre rally this weekend to highlight Amdani’s situation.

The rally will take place on Saturday 11 October in Nottingham Market Square at 12.30. A washing line of pages from the online petition, currently at over 2,750 will “be hung out to dry” to demonstrate how Amdani himself has been left “hanging on” for over 5 years, waiting for a decision to grant him a safe and secure future and allow him to get on with his life. The Home Office has delayed the hearing
scheduled for Tuesday, 14 October prolonging the wait even further. Nottingham North MP Nick Palmer has added pledged his support to Alan Simpson and industrialist Lance Clark, major shareholder in Clarks shoes who is involved in charitable work in Africa with people who
have AIDS has signed the Online Petition.

Since he was granted bail pending a Judicial Review on 8th June 2008 Amdani has not been allowed to continue with his paid employment and has had to take a 40 mile round trip from Nottingham to Loughborough every week to sign. During the long wait and uncertainty, local people have continued to support him and his case and to raise awareness about his huge contribution to the region in the area of HIV prevention work and refugee integration.

Notes for Editors

http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html contains many testimonials from the community and has over 2,750 signatures. Paper petitions stand at over 3,000.

A short campaign video paying tribute to our good friend Amdani Juma can be seen on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNho3_auGA

Background

Amdani Juma, a refugee HIV prevention and community worker in Nottingham, was detained by the immigration authorities on Friday 30th May 2008. He spent 18 days in detention during which time a flight was booked for his removal on two separate occasions. Following protests by local people, local and national organisations, a meeting between Liam Byrne and Alan Simpson and representations from his solicitor, Amdani was released on bail on 10th June 2008 pending a Judicial Review.

Amdani is a Burundian national. In 2003, he was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection but his application for Indefinite Leave to Remain was turned down. A further application for discretion on the grounds of his contribution to the Nottinghamshire and East Midlands community was also refused. Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, and Nottingham Council leader Jon Collins have both spoken out in opposition to Amdani’s proposed removal. Local people have rallied to his support with three demonstrations in Nottingham and an online and paper petition combined have a total of over 6,000 signatures.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum Friends of Amdani Juma

Thursday 2nd October 2008

Amdani Juma, the Nottingham Community worker whose removal was postponed in June, will have his Judicial Review in the High Court on Tuesday 14th October and this Friday 3rd October 250 post cards will be posted to 15 MPs to raise awareness about how Amdani has contributed to their constituency through his work.

Amdani Juma was granted bail pending a Judicial Review on 8th June 2008. Since then he has not been allowed to continue with his paid employment and has had to take a 40 mile round trip from Nottingham to Loughborough every week to report. During the long wait and uncertainty, local people have continued to support him and his case and to raise awareness about his contribution to the region. 250 people have signed postcards to send to their MPs to highlight that Amdani’s work has affected their constituencies.

One of the “Friends of Amdani” says

“We are continuing to raise awareness about this issue and we won’t let up until justice is done. Some people think that because he was released, it is all over: we are trying to keep everyone updated with what is going on, as well as continuing to let more people know about this injustice. Last Saturday in Nottingham City Centre 150 more people signed the petition in less than 2 hours. The whole of Nottingham will be awaiting a just outcome.”

Notes for Editors

Background
Amdani Juma, a refugee HIV prevention and community worker in Nottingham,
was detained by the immigration authorities on Friday 30th May 2008.

He spent 18 days in detention during which time a flight was booked for his removal on two separate occasions. Following protests by local people, local and national organisations, a meeting with Liam Byrne and Alan Simpson and representations from his solicitor, Amdani was released on bail on 10th June 2008 pending a Judicial Review.

Amdani is a Burundian national. In 2003, he was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection but his application for Indefinite Leave to Remain was turned down. A further application for discretion on the grounds of his contribution to the Nottinghamshire and East Midlands community was also refused. Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, and Nottingham Council leader Jon Collins have both spoken out in opposition to Amdani’s proposed removal. Local people have rallied to his support with three demonstrations in Nottingham and an online and paper petition combined have a total of over 5,700 signatures.

http://www.petitiononline.com/amdani/petition.html contains many testimonials from the community and has over 2,500 signatures. Paper petitions total over 3,000

Amdani Juma’s solicitor is Hani Zubeidi of Fadiga and Co Solicitors, London

A short campaign video paying tribute to our good friend Amdani Juma can be seen on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNho3_auGA

Ends

Friends collected him from Campsfield Detention Centre, and brought him back to Nottingham the night after his hearing. He has spent 18 days in detention since being detained on Friday 30th May when he went to sign at a Reporting Centre in Loughborough.

In that time, 3 rallies were held in Nottingham in support of his case and an online and paper petition supporting his right to stay have attracted a combined total of over 5,000 signatures, including Alan Simpson MP and Noam Chomsky. His deportation was postponed once to give both sides more time and then a second time pending a Judicial Review application.

The bail hearing was conducted by video link. There had been some confusion in the morning relating to this, which the home office/Courts had down for Colnbrook, when in fact Amdani was still in Campsfield House. Fortunately, supporters were on the case and able to sort things in time.

Amdani is a Burundian national. In 2003, he was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection but his later application for Indefinite Leave to Remain was turned down. A further application for discretion by the Home Office was also refused resulting in his present detention. Alan Simpson MP for Nottingham South and Nottingham Council leader Jon Collins have both spoken out about Amdani’s proposed removal.

A welcome home/campaign meeting was held at Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum on Tuesday 17th June. Although getting bail is an important victory, the struggle continues. There’s now have a Judicial Review to win as well as looking at ways that others from Nottingham facing similar treatment and deportation can be supported

On Wednesday 11th, Amdani was moved to Campsfield House IRC, near Oxford. Please note that visits to Campsfield House require 24 hours notice. Ask about ID requirements when you book your visit.

Friday, 13th: yesterday evening, Amdani was back in Colnbrook.

Saturday 14th:today Amdani was moved back to Campsfield. By now, Amdani has been moved 5 times in 10 days. He should be back in Colnbrook for his bail hearing.

So if you want to visit him, it’s probably best if you just patrol up and down the M4 and shout “Hi” as he whizzes past. The agencies running IRCs are making a fine contribution to global warming by moving detainees around pointlessly in fuel-guzzling vans – which they also leave for long periods with the engine running, while they muck about trying to get the gates open (no, it’s not all right if they use electric vans…)

We’ll try to keep you posted as to his latest whereabouts.

This is the second time Amdani has been in Campsfield since his detention on May 30. He was taken there after being detained at Loughborough Reporting Centre. After his initial stay in Campsfield he was moved to Lindholme near Doncaster and then down to Colnbrook, near Heathrow (this was to facilitate his deportation scheduled for June 10). He was moved back to Campsfield shortly after his deportation was postponed, but informed after his arrival that he would back to Colnbrook very soon. Despite expecting to be moved he is still there today.

For more on the situation at Campsfield, check out Indymedia UK or watch the video on the BBC.