Guy Njike isan asylum seeker from Cameroon. Guy claimed asylum on his arrival in the UK in 1999. It took five years for his case to go through the motions.
His appeal was dismissed in late 2004 and he made a fresh application with fresh evidence in 2005. This was rejected this week, with the Home Office claiming that it was not a fresh application, but after all, but a continuation of his old one, which meant that they could say that he does not have an appeal.
The delays in the system and the bureaucracy involved are a terrible waste of public resources on the one hand and an awful burden on the lives of those who suffer under the system.
Guy did not sit around feeling sorry for himself. Instead, he learned English, gained qualifications including a masters degree.
He got a job and worked legally, paying his way and, being a sociable guy, made a lot of friends along the way.
Guy has done more for society by his commitment to voluntary work and has even done jury service!
Now, as a great big slap in the face, he has been informed by the Home Office that obtaining educational qualifications and being supported by fellow students was evidence that he had entered the UK for economic and educational betterment and is one of the reasons for rejecting his case.
So, a man who embodies all of the ideals that we want from the people of our nation has had all of it thrown back in his face by the authorities. Now Guy is in detention, waiting to see what happens next.
You can read more about Guy here.
Friday, February 15, 2008
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Guy has lived for 8 and a half years in the UK, both with constant uncertainty and also constant fear that he will be sent back to Cameroon where he was imprisoned and tortured. He fled to the UK and claimed asylum because he believed he would find sanctuary here, as he believed that the democracy and justice that his own country lacked, would protect him here.
This has not been the case and becasue of flaws in the system, his claim and appeal have been rejected.
I studied with Guy on our masters course in 2004 and interviewed him for my dissertation which was researching detention in the asylum system. At the time he said that he couldn't imagine the horror of being in detention again (after his beatings in prison in Cameroon). I really saw terror in his eyes. And now he's been in detention since Monday.
I truly believe that Guy has a genuine case and that he has not had it fairly examined (for many reasons, delay, changes in his legal reps, language barriers, Home Office inexperience and assumptions). The fact that in his refusal letter on monday the Home Office stated that it was clear, because he had worked hard and studied, that he had come to the UK, not to seek asylum genuinely, but for educational betterment, makes me feel sick.
It really makes me ashamed to be British that the government has treated him like this. We might not have obvious 'human rights violations' as China, Iran etc do, but this is a clear case of the Home Office violating Guy's human rights.
I urge people to show that this can not go un-noticed and sign the petition to stop Guy's deportation
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopdeportationofguy/
and go to the link for other ways you can help.
http://stopdeportationofguy.wordpress.com/
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