In Bloom
24-08-2005, 07:52
Help Urgently Needed
SAVE AKRAM, NATALIA AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN FROM THE consequences of AN IMMORAL DEPORTATION
Akram fled to Britain from Afghanistan in 2000 after his family was murdered by the Taliban, and received limited leave to remain for a year and permission to work. Despite the tragedy he had suffered he found happiness when he met Natalia and began to rebuild his life. They have now been together for over four years as happy family with two children FFFF and GGGG (Natalie's blood children from a previous marriage) and are active popular members of the local community.
Akram’s leave to remain was renewed at the end of the first year, but when he applied again, he was eventually told that they would not renew his leave and they took away his permission to work. He was devastated. He had no income now but NASS refused him support even though he had an ongoing Human Rights appeal. Since then he has not been allowed to work, either paid or voluntary, and has received no benefits whatsoever. He is virtually imprisoned by the immigration rules, unable to contribute to society or support his family. Natalia works to keep them all, but her leave to remain runs out in October and she cannot be sure that her application for Indefinite Leave would succeed.
Akram and Natalia are desperate to stay together, and Akram appealed, on Human Rights grounds to be allowed to stay with the family. The judge at the tribunal said that he couldn’t see that there would be any danger to Natalia of her children if they moved to Kabul with Akram. This sounds like a sick joke. Akram and Natalia cannot marry yet because her divorce hasn’t come through, and if they can’t marry, her position in Kabul would be very bad. She is originally from the Ukraine and her children FFFF and GGGG, who love Akram as a father; now have English as their first language, are doing really well in school, and have all their friends here. Nobody, least of all Akram, would want to see Natalia and the kids suffering the difficulties and dangers of Kabul, no matter how they want to be together. The Home Office are forcing him to make the most difficult of decisions: to leave those he loves, breaking his partner’s and the children’s hearts or to take them with him into a terrifying and mortally perilous situation. It would be unjust and immoral to pull apart this loving family.
Afghanistan is not a safe country for anyone to live in, the Foreign Office ‘strongly advise against all but essential travel to Kabul and against all travel to other parts of Afghanistan.’ (www.fco.gov.uk) It would be even more dangerous for Akram and Natalia to live there because they would be living out of wedlock and so in a perceived ‘adulterous’ relationship by many hardliners in the country. Furthermore Natalia and the children are white, obviously foreign, and so may be viewed as terrorist targets. ‘There is reporting to indicate an increased threat of bomb attacks, possibly by suicide bombers, against Western targets in central Kabul and in the vicinity of Kabul airport.’ (www.fco.gov.uk)
Akram and Natalia have one slender hope left. They have an application to remain here under the Family Amnesty scheme, but on the face of it, they don’t seem to come within the rules, so that leaves US.
We should be upset, we should be angry but we should also act. What we can do: -
Come to the initial planning meeting for the anti-deportation campaign with as many caring people as we can bring on Wednesday 24th August, 7.30pm downstairs at The Casa (The Dockers bar on Hope Street opposite the Philharmonic pub), Liverpool.
- Forward this message to everyone you can, the unions, your work mates, friends, the schools, the churches, activists, campaigners all decent political groups. - Write to your MP, the Home Office, The Queen and everyone else you can think of… (www.writetothem.com)
Please, please, please get involved and help keep this wonderful family together. Feel free to bring along petitions or posters or anything you can at the first meeting no-one’s toes will be trod on...
If anybody can make the public meeting in Liverpool, please come.
SAVE AKRAM, NATALIA AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN FROM THE consequences of AN IMMORAL DEPORTATION
Akram fled to Britain from Afghanistan in 2000 after his family was murdered by the Taliban, and received limited leave to remain for a year and permission to work. Despite the tragedy he had suffered he found happiness when he met Natalia and began to rebuild his life. They have now been together for over four years as happy family with two children FFFF and GGGG (Natalie's blood children from a previous marriage) and are active popular members of the local community.
Akram’s leave to remain was renewed at the end of the first year, but when he applied again, he was eventually told that they would not renew his leave and they took away his permission to work. He was devastated. He had no income now but NASS refused him support even though he had an ongoing Human Rights appeal. Since then he has not been allowed to work, either paid or voluntary, and has received no benefits whatsoever. He is virtually imprisoned by the immigration rules, unable to contribute to society or support his family. Natalia works to keep them all, but her leave to remain runs out in October and she cannot be sure that her application for Indefinite Leave would succeed.
Akram and Natalia are desperate to stay together, and Akram appealed, on Human Rights grounds to be allowed to stay with the family. The judge at the tribunal said that he couldn’t see that there would be any danger to Natalia of her children if they moved to Kabul with Akram. This sounds like a sick joke. Akram and Natalia cannot marry yet because her divorce hasn’t come through, and if they can’t marry, her position in Kabul would be very bad. She is originally from the Ukraine and her children FFFF and GGGG, who love Akram as a father; now have English as their first language, are doing really well in school, and have all their friends here. Nobody, least of all Akram, would want to see Natalia and the kids suffering the difficulties and dangers of Kabul, no matter how they want to be together. The Home Office are forcing him to make the most difficult of decisions: to leave those he loves, breaking his partner’s and the children’s hearts or to take them with him into a terrifying and mortally perilous situation. It would be unjust and immoral to pull apart this loving family.
Afghanistan is not a safe country for anyone to live in, the Foreign Office ‘strongly advise against all but essential travel to Kabul and against all travel to other parts of Afghanistan.’ (www.fco.gov.uk) It would be even more dangerous for Akram and Natalia to live there because they would be living out of wedlock and so in a perceived ‘adulterous’ relationship by many hardliners in the country. Furthermore Natalia and the children are white, obviously foreign, and so may be viewed as terrorist targets. ‘There is reporting to indicate an increased threat of bomb attacks, possibly by suicide bombers, against Western targets in central Kabul and in the vicinity of Kabul airport.’ (www.fco.gov.uk)
Akram and Natalia have one slender hope left. They have an application to remain here under the Family Amnesty scheme, but on the face of it, they don’t seem to come within the rules, so that leaves US.
We should be upset, we should be angry but we should also act. What we can do: -
Come to the initial planning meeting for the anti-deportation campaign with as many caring people as we can bring on Wednesday 24th August, 7.30pm downstairs at The Casa (The Dockers bar on Hope Street opposite the Philharmonic pub), Liverpool.
- Forward this message to everyone you can, the unions, your work mates, friends, the schools, the churches, activists, campaigners all decent political groups. - Write to your MP, the Home Office, The Queen and everyone else you can think of… (www.writetothem.com)
Please, please, please get involved and help keep this wonderful family together. Feel free to bring along petitions or posters or anything you can at the first meeting no-one’s toes will be trod on...
If anybody can make the public meeting in Liverpool, please come.