Jamaican Deportation Flight; Press Release

BME Lawyers 4 Justice.

Immediate release.

06/02/2019 10:40 am

Re: Jamaican Deportation Charter Flight

Who we are:

BAME Lawyers for Justice is a group coalition campaign challenging Windrush injustices and the Government hostile environment. We are an umbrella platform comprising of Society of Black Lawyers, BARAC UK, Blaksox, Windrush Action & a number of Windrush campaign groups across the UK.

We campaigned in response to the unfolding Windrush scandal calling for all deportations, including charter flights to the Caribbean, to be stopped. We advocated, organised and made representations to the Home Office and launched an online petition signed by 10000 people.

As a result of this, alongside the work of many activist organisations, the planned charter flight to Jamaica in the spring of 2018 was cancelled. Charter flights to Jamaica, but not other countries, were suspended.

Background.

We condemn the resumption of deportation charter flights to Jamaica. A flight left the UK bound to Jamaica today. We are shocked and appalled at this action, particularly as the government, has not received , nor has the public been informed, about the conclusions of the many Windrush ‘Lessons Learned’ reviews. The resumption of these deportation flights is a grievous, appalling insult to the principles of justice and fairness.

Yesterday the Home Secretary may have misled the House, when he said in response to Parliamentary Questions, that all of the 50 people planned to be deported were ‘serious criminals'.

We understand that at least 15 people were prevented from being deported, by the actions of their lawyers, supported by campaign groups. So that’s at least 15 people who may not have fitted the Home Secretary’s description. We are delighted that with your support we were able to get former British Army soldier Twane Morgan, taken of the plane in a last minute legal action.

The Home Office approach to fundamental rights of returnees has been cynical and inhumane.

We commend Twane’s legal representatives, Shivani Jegarajah, of Justitia Chambers and Rachel Okello of Rogols Solicitors both who represented, supported by a campaign team, recognising the importance of the principle of access to justice for everyone including those deemed to be foreign nationals.  Mrs Justice May granted the injunction and he was taken off the plane.

We have no confidence in the ability of the UK Border Agency to treat people fairly and in accordance with the law. We don’t believe that the public would support deportation in many of these cases, were the details of their individual circumstances known.

We call upon the British government, to stop all deportations, until such time as the lessons from Windrush can be properly learned, systems reformed, and equality of all citizens before the law can be equally guaranteed, without regard to race.

We full support the Stansted 15 who are in court today after protesting a deportation flight in  2017 and we note the extraordinary escalation of their charges by the Crown Prosecution Service. If these flights continue, we may see many more such protests.

Quotes from the group:

Zita Holbourne, Chair of BARAC UK said;

“It is irresponsible and inhumane to conduct wholesale deportations of people, tearing them from families & demonising and labelling them.

I have been leading the campaign for justice for Twane, who has literally been used by the British government & then neglected & discarded . It has been a rollercoaster 24 hours, a high court injunction granted last eve, only to be contacted by Twane in the early hours of this morning with the news that he is being transported to the airport & being deported. Twane was put on the plane, cuffed to two security guards and only just removed from the flight just before take off. "

Adding.

“This was emotional torture for Twane & his loved ones and totally unnecessary. Until there is a concluded independent public inquiry, this scandalous inhumane treatment of people must stop.”

Lee Jasper of Blaksox said,

“The Windrush scandal is a matter of utter national shame and disgrace. That Her Majesty's Government would embark on a campaign that targeted Black British citizens with the illegal forced detention and removal, is not only reprehensible, but strikes at the heart of concepts of justice, fairness and equality before the law. This Government has unilaterally cancelled the social contract between the state and British black communities and the consequences are devastating. Peoples lives are being destroyed and yet the Government seems intent to ride rough shod over the rights of these deportees. This is an outrageous calumny, a barbarous and inhumane  example of institutionalised racism in practice."

He added,

“For the Government to willingly persist in these deportations, using an immigration deportation regime, proven to be institutionally racist to its core, constitutes both malign intent and hostile provocation.”

Leading Windrush Immigration and Asylum lawyer, Jacqueline McKenzie  

“These deportation charters are of grave concern. They are shrouded in secrecy and there is no adequate mechanism for ensuring that people on them have access to quality and independent advice.

To date we do not have accurate information about who was on this one and there is no evidence to support the Home Secretary's claim that it was full of very serious criminals, notwithstanding  the fact that in many cases we're talking about people who are settled in the UK and already punished for any crimes.

She added;

“Further, the very process of shackling 50 plus people, including with hand and sometimes waist restraints with each person accompanied by several guards on a 9 hour flight is dehumanizing and tantamount to torture with lifelong debilitating consequences.  There must now be an urgent review of the legality of this process and of the policies and laws which make this possible.”

Info:

We will be holding action-planning events in various cities, across England, in preparation for our Windrush National Day of Action, to take later in the year.

Planning meetings will take place simultaneously, on the 23rd February and are supported by Windrush campaign groups under the umbrella of BAME Lawyers for Justice and planned to mark United Nations World Social Justice Day.

We call on the country to do the right thing, join us and our campaign for justice and support our call for an Independent Public Inquiry into the Windrush scandal.

Petition: Conduct an Independent Public Inquiry into the Windrush Scandal

Ends

Contact; 

Zita Holbourne,                Tel 07711861660  barac.info@gmail.com

Lee Jasper,                     Tel 07984181797  lee-jasper@live.com

Jacqueline McKenzie       Tel 07961 148 568 or 020 8671 7989

Support our campaign against the deportation of Twane Morgan

Stop the Deportation of Twane Morgan, former soldier in the British Army with PTSD & bipolar  to be shackled and deported to Jamaica

BARAC UK, were already supporting and leading a canpaign for British citizenship to be granted to Twane Morgan who is a former soldier in the British Army when he was detained last week. The UK Government plan to deport Twane on a charter flight which is a mass deportation of at least 50 people to Jamaica within the next fortnight.

Our petition has gained over 83000 signatures and if you read the updates that will take you through developments.

Please sign here;

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-deportation-of-twane-morgan-former-commonwealth-soldier-in-the-british-army

We are working with the family, their lawyer at Rogols Solicitors and barrister from Justitia Chambers, the latter being   part of the BAME Lawyers for Justice group which BARAC UK are co-founders of.

Zita Holbourne, National Chair of BARAC UK says of Twane's case;

"The treatment of Commonwealth soldiers is very similar to the treatment of the Windrush generation. The British government have been forced to acknowledge that they have done wrong and need to rectify their treatment of the Windrush generation. They should do the same for Commonwealth soldiers. They should do the right thing by Twane and allow him to stay here, raise his 5 children, get the support he needs from his family and the medical care he requires for his PTSD & bipolar conditions."

More info about Twane's plight continues here;

Traumatised war veteran to be shackled and deported on charter flight.

From 1st February 2019 Twane Morgan will be taken to an undisclosed airport and taken with 50 other Jamaican nationals and 150 immigration escorts to be released over to Jamaica.

This is a man who joined the British army as a Commonwealth serviceman, was not told by the army how to survive in the UK upon his discharge.

Twane arrived in UK legally. In 2004, he enlisted in the British Army and on 31 August 2007, was medically discharged as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. This was decided by the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chambers. A long existing policy meant that Twane was eligible for settlement and later citizenship. But no one told him that. Without formal permission to live in the UK, he was not entitled to work nor access the NHS. Unsurprisingly he turned to alcohol. On 16 October 2010, he got into a drunken argument with his daughter's grandfather and in order to defend himself from a hammer attack he stabbed him. As the UK Veterans have pointed out below as a soldier he has been trained to defend himself from attack by the Army and on discharge there is nothing in place to untrain and no support given to cope with life as a civilian. In Twane's case he was also denied essential NHS treatment and care. He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment.  At no point did he receive any treatment.

It was only in 2017 that he was seen by a psychiatrist who stated that Twane Morgan suffers from complex PTSD which has persisted for approximately ten years. Mr Morgan suffers from bipolar affective disorder. He has now had two episodes of mania and is at high risk of relapse without ongoing treatment and supervision of his mental disorder.

The prognosis of his bipolar disorder is that he has a good chance of remaining in remission if he continues to take medication and cooperate with psychiatric follow up.

As a result of the sympathy his case has generated Veterans Association UK have come forward in support. CEO Tony Hayes provides some insight:

        “ Mr Morgan served in the British Army and completed two tours of duty

in Afghanistan, these tours are usually between 10 -12 months

duration, this is an extremely long time to be under very high stress

levels. No one knows for sure but it is a reasonable estimate to say

that 85% of soldiers serving in the frontline Battalions and Regiments

i.e.  Infantry, Artillery, Armoured Corps soldiers and Royal Marines

serving on the forward operational bases (FOB's) will suffer with

Complex Multiple Trauma Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD).

Soldiers suffer with PTSD through two sources, firstly tour time, for

the 10 -12 months on the tour of duty, every time they exit the base

compound they are at serious risk of coming under fire, there is also

a high possibility of IED ( Improvised Explosive Device) injuries

either through remote detonation by mobile phone or landmine, during

this stage whilst on patrol the soldier is in a state of high anxiety

and vigilance, this itself will cause PTSD you then have the

individual incident i.e.  enemy contact involving a firefight (an

exchange of gunfire between the soldiers and enemy, this causes

extreme exhilaration and controlled fear. this is known as a contact .

during this time of battle a soldier often see's the death of enemy

combatants but also sometimes their friends killed by gunshot wounds,

this is a very traumatic experience extreme sadness and anger but

always remembered often via flashback years later. On some occasions

in Afghanistan the Taliban would put an explosives belt around a child

and send the child towards the soldiers and would be remotely

detonated killing the child and many personnel around the child, on

occasions this is picked up by the soldiers who have no choice but to

use deadly force to stop the child, this really plays up on the

continence of the soldier who takes out the target.

These situations cannot be understood by anyone unless they have been

in combat irrespective whether its Afghanistan Iraq, Falklands War

Northern Ireland the situation is the same and Mr Morgan completed two

tours of duty in Afghanistan for which he received a medical discharge

from the army having been diagnosed with Complex Multiple Trauma PTSD.

There is no cure for PTSD but it can be managed by the right

psychotherapist specialising in this field.

PTSD is a very debilitating illness often with other additional

illness such as Night terrors including flashbacks, Agoraphobia (fear

of going out)  Panic attacks, General Anxiety Disorder and many other

conditions. Sadly many ex soldiers are incarcerated usually for acts

of violence, very often caused by civilians usually young men

threatening these soldiers who when it comes flight or fight tend to

fight because H.M Government through the military have trained these

men to react the way they do, nothing is done upon leaving the army to

counter this they are just left on their own to cope”.  

They say that “despite the law stating that anyone of a foreign nationality serving more than 12 months in will be deported, I believe this to be wrong in this case, the fact he served and fought for this country, he put his life on the line for this country and I believe the military covenant may come into play also, it states that `` No veteran or his/her family will be put to disadvantage'' (end).

Like the position of many veterans Twane was hung out to dry. Self medicating with alcohol and all the while his condition was getting worse and worse.

This is what a charter flight involves:

“On the plane itself, deportees are generally outnumbered at least two to one by escorts. Waist restraint belts (WRBs), in which people’s arms are shackled to their sides, are common. On two 2017 “Dublin” flights inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons (HMIP) and the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), waist restraints were automatically used on 100% of detainees. On other inspected flights, a minority were restrained. Leg and head restraints are also used. Pain compliance techniques are used to put unwilling people into restraint, and those who continue to struggle are carried onto the plane.

So the British Government is dragging Twane onto a charter flight where he is likely to be shackled the way that the British treated enslaved African people during the 'Transatlantic Slave Trade". The treatment of the Windrush generation and Commonwealth soldiers like Twane whose UK resident grandfaher was of the Windrush generation is a legacy of enslavement, colonial rule and Empire.

A far cry from the observations of a High Court Judge who said:

‘The court is conscious that at the heart of military life and the sacrifices that soldiers make in the discharge of their duties is the Military Covenant. This reads:

"Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices – including the ultimate sacrifice – in the service of the Nation. In putting the needs of the Nation and the Army before their own, they forego some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces. In return, British Soldiers must be able to always expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals, and that they (and their families) will be sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service".

Rewarding long and distinguished service by the grant of residence in the country for which the service was performed would, in my judgment, be a vindication and an enhancement of this covenant”.

Please support our campaign.

Press enquiries should be directed to barac.info@gmail.com