HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Campsfield hunger strikers refused visitors

One of OxNB | 30.05.2012 22:14 | Anti-racism | Migration | Oxford

13 men from Darfur region of Sudan have been on hunger strike for 6 days at Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre in Kidlington, near Oxford.

They are all being held in detention without time limit and without
any idea as to what will happen to them or when they will be released
or removed. They have been held for varying periods of time; the
longest being six months. They are demanding that they all be released
and granted asylum, but would rather they were removed (to a safe
place) than held arbitrarily with no time limit. They have also
complained of their treatment inside the centre, saying that they came
here asking for refuge, and instead have been locked up and badly
treated. One man who was on hunger strike has already been released.

They come from all three regions of Darfur and include members of the
Zaghawa, Tama, Mirra, Berti, and Tunjur tribes. At least one of the
hunger strikers is a confirmed torture survivor with visible wounds,
who is well-known in his home town of Nyala and whose name is
instantly recognisable to many Sudanese in the UK. Torture survivors
are not supposed to be held in immigration detention under UK law, but
campaigning groups say that this law is regularly flouted by the UK
Border Agency.

The hunger strikers requested visits and various supporters from
Oxford independently organised visits for the evening of 30 May.
Despite pre-arranging visits each of the visitors was turned away on
different spurious reasons (some with no reason given) once detention
centre management realised they were visiting Sudanese men. (Two other
regular visitors who were not visiting any of the hunger strikers but
who happened to arrive at a similar time were also turned away with no
reasons given.)

The first visitors, Nazar Eltahir (Chair of the Sudanese community in Oxford) and Tim Flatman (a human rights activist who regularly travels to Sudan/South Sudan and supports Sudanese and South Sudanese migrants in the UK) were told that the person they were visiting had told staff they were not expecting a visitor and had not heard of them. They asked staff to check again with him and after supposedly doing so the same statement was repeated. Staff said they had spoken to him through a translation service.

On leaving the detention centre and phoning the man they were due to visit, he told them that he was expecting the visit and no staff from the detention centre had spoken to him or asked him whether he was expecting a visit or not. Other visitors were told that they had not pre-booked despite their names being clearly visible on the pre-booked list lying on the reception desk.

Supporters have vowed to try and visit the hunger strikers again to
support them and intend to submit a complaint alleging that detention
centre management attempted to cover up the hunger strike and
illegally refused and lied to visitors to the company who manage
Campsfield (Mitie), to the Independent Monitoring Board, to the HM
Chief Inspector of Prisons and to the Minister for Immigration
tomorrow (31 May) through their local MP. A demonstration in support
of the hunger strikers for Friday 1 June at 6pm in Carfax, Oxford, has
also been called by the local Sudanese community and various
campaigning and human rights organisations. All are welcome.

One of OxNB

Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech