Steve Cohen

For the first time an alliance of General Secretaries of trade unions have come together in support of a refugee in detention and under threat of deportation. This is unprecedented.

The refugee is Alphonsus Uche Okafor- Mefor.

The General Secretaries are: Paul Mackney of UCU (the University and Colleges Union), Mark Serwotka of the PCS (Public and Commercial Service Union), Jeremy Dear of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), Bob Crow of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport), Tony Woodley of the TGWU (Transport and General Workers). They have all written to the Minister responsible for immigration at the Home Office (Liam Byrne) protesting both the detention and threatened removal of Alphonsus.

Mackney said: “Alphonsus Uche Okafor-Mefor is presently being held in a detention centre and is due to be flown back to Nigeria where he has been previously detained and tortured. This case is of particular relevance to trade unionists as he was due to speak at a forthcoming ‘No One Is Illegal’ Trade Union Conference, of which UCU is a sponsor. He is a leading figure in the campaign group Asylum Voice who have campaigned against the abuses suffered by asylum seekers. This coming together of General Secretaries of major trade unions in support of Alphonsus is unique and shows that the labour movement is committed to the defence of refugees and others threatened by immigration controls - and shows why the slogan “No One Is Illegal” is a demand for justice and basic human rights.

Jeremy Dear has said “It is a sign of the anger we feel that Alphonsus should be facing deportation and the prospect of being imprisoned and tortured that so many leading trade unionists have come together to express our outrage and support the efforts of those who are fighting attempts to remove him”.

Tony Woodley has said: “I am frequently appalled at the workings of our asylum system, which seems a mechanism for injustice in all too many cases. The case of Alphonsus is one of them and I fully associate the T&G with the demand that he be allowed to remain in this country for his own safety.”

Home Office scapegoats Alphonsus

The No One Is Illegal trade union conference to which Paul Mackney refers is one opposing immigration controls. It is therefore ironic that Alphonsus is now being prevented from attending and is in imminent danger of deportation himself.

Furthermore the reference to Asylum Voice refers to the campaign Alphonsus initiated in Liverpool (where he had been living) against the government’s so-called New Asylum Model (NAM) which is being piloted in Liverpool and which is intended to ensure speedy removals.

Even whilst in detention (at Tinsley House) Alphonsus has been lodging a series of complaints about the ways in which refugees are maltreated there. The campaign in defence of Alphonsus considers that is his opposition to immigration controls which lead to his arrest without warning and his being put in detention. The Home Office is scapegoating Alphonsus.

Alphonsus claimed asylum in 2005.He is an Igbo and belongs to MASSOB (Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra) who are campaigning for an independent Biafra . He was detained and tortured following attendance of a MASSOB meeting there.

He has continued to campaign in Britain to highlight the persecution of the Biafran people and the murder of MASSOB members and Igbos by the Nigerian government through the Biafran Actualisation Forum . Now known to the Nigerian government, he faces imminent danger if he is returned.

MASSOB members here are active in the campaign for Alphonsus. They have issued a statement which contains the following:

“Mr Okafor-Mefor is a MASSOB leader who has taken a key role in this peaceful struggle and, if he is deported back to Nigeria, unequivocally his life will be in danger. Even UK foreign office officials have confirmed that Nigeria takes a “tough stand” (diplomatic terminology for persecution and killing!) on MASSOB activism.”

Alphonsus was first arrested on February 28. Neither he nor his solicitor (Peter Simms) were given any warning. This itself shows how the immigration system operates.

Alphonsus has kept in regular contact with the Home Office, he has never gone underground. Yet he was arrested without warning. He was given 48 hours before his flight was due to take off. He was taken to the airport for deportation.

But just as he was about to board the plane the Home Office said he would not be flown out that day. We attribute this to a) an excellent legal team b) a public protest at the airport by supporters of MOSSAB and c) undoubtedly the vast amount of trade union support not just by national unions but at branch and trades council level.

However Alphonsus is now back in detention anxious that each day he may be taken back to the airport. In the meantime his solicitor has prepared a judicial review of the refusal to grant asylum.

What you and your union can do:

(1) Email Liam Byrne: Minister for State for Immigration at byrnel@parliament.uk Quote ref number M1320887 Fax: 020 7035 4745

(2) Send copies to Adolphus’s MP who is supporting him-John McDonnell : mcdonnellj@parliament.uk and to No One Is Illegal at info@noii.org.uk

Friday March 2 2007

It is with heart full of thanks and appreciation that I am sending this message of solidarity to the trade union movement. Your resilience in the face of injustice is unassuming; your unalloyed commitment to equality and justice is unparallel. You are the beacon of hope for the oppressed and the most vulnerable in the society (the asylum seekers).

One of the most recent eloquent testimonies of this bravery is the spirit of openness and unity of purpose by which you responded positively to rescuing one of the darkest moments of the Home Office “silent snatching operations on asylum seekers”. Specifically, I was snatched by the immigration authorities on Monday February 26 when I went to sign at Reliance House in Liverpool and was immediately served with a removal direction for Thursday March 1 without any prior notice or chance to take my belongings which may be of immediate need to me.

The movement was so fast that I was taken to the Manchester airport temporary detention centre with two ladies. I was detained there till Wednesday February 28. I was then finally taken to Colnbrook removal centre for onward removal to Nigeria on Thursday March 1.

The trade unionists’ intervention at this point could not have come at a better and more auspicious time of desperate need for me. Today I am still here in the UK but not yet free. Permit me to say that I am writing to you “in chains”.

Finally I owe a huge debt of gratitude to individuals and group especially my solicitor, Biafran Liberation League, No One is Illegal, the University and College Union, the Public and Civil Service Union, Asylum Link Merseyside, Merseyside Refugee Support Network, NCADC, politicians and the Human Rights Committee. Without whose support I would not still be here in the UK .

While I am not with you in person, I’m encouraged and energised by your unstinting support for me. I hope to join you as soon as possible and I hope to speak at the trade union No One Is Illegal Conference on 31st March.

“NO ONE IS ILLEGAL” Conference

March 31, 1.00-5.30pm,

LIVERPOOL

Asylum Links, St Annes Church,

Overbury St, Liverpool 7

We ask unions to sponsor (give their name to) the conference. Admission/ sponsorship free ,donations welcome (cheques to No One Is illegal).

Initial sponsors Trades Councils: Tameside, Oxford, Bury, Waltham Forest, Oldham, Chorley and District, Greater Manchester Association. Union branches: Bolton NUT, Unison Manchester Community and Mental Health.