A-Infos (en) Defend the Campsfield Nine

[John O <ncadc@ncadc.demon.co.uk>]

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NATIONAL COALITION OF ANTI-DEPORTATION CAMPAIGNS
22 BERNERS STREET, BIRMINGHAM  B19 2DR  ENGLAND
VOICE  0121-554-6947   +44-121-554-6947        
 FAX      0121-507-1567   +44-121-507-1567
E-MAIL  ncadc@ncadc.demon.co.uk
WEB SITE      http://www.ncadc.demon.co.uk/ 



Defend the Campsfield Nine

Mass Picket
 Oxford Crown Court
8.30 am Monday 1 June 1998
St Aldates, Oxford
and every  Monday till end of trial


   Following a disturbance at Campsfield House detention centre on 20 August
1997 when  Group 4 tried to send  2 detainees to prison nine Asylum Seekers
from Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana and Liberia are facing charges of violent
disorder and riot, which carries a maximum ten-year sentence.

  Their trial starts on Monday 1 June 1998 at Oxford Crown Court, the trial
may last 8 weeks. 

   The whole blame for the mass protest at Campsfield on 20 August 1997 is
being thrown at nine West African refugees.
 Seven of the nine have been in prison since August 1997 (after months in
detention).
   Two of them are minors only 17 years old. On 15 January 1998 one of these
minors attempted suicide.
   Four of the accused went on hunger strike in December, one collapsed, was
taken to hospital where he spent three days, unconscious, chained to a guard.
   Two have been in suicide-watch 'strip cells'. One minor, made ill by the
way he has been treated, is now in a psychiatric unit. 
   Since being charged, two of the nine have gained refugee status and are
now free on bail (making nonsense of their detention in the first place). 

Why pick on these nine??? 
   On August 20 over 50 detainees, of many nationalities and both sexes,
protested that their basic human rights were being ignored and violated. The
UK office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees agrees with them (Channel
4 News, 6 March 1998).

   Why did someone "right from the top" in the Home Office telephone Banbury
police station to encourage reluctant police to lay charges?

   Why are detainees being charged under Labour when, under the Conservative
Government, no detainee was charged after any of the many protests by
detainees over the four years since Campsfield opened, including the major
protests in December 1993, June 1994, November 1996 and May 1997.

These seven men and two minors should never have been charged. We Charge the
British Government. With failing its basic humanitarian duty, and failing to
meet international obligations towards asylum seekers. 

    Campaigners demands for a fair trial have been hampered by the
difficulty in tracing witnesses, prejudicial comments by Home Office
ministers and current anti-refugee propaganda in the mainstream press, where
it is now unusual to see the word "asylum-seeker" without the word "bogus"
preceding it. Many witnesses have been moved to other prisons and some,
including one of the detainees whose removal sparked off the disturbance
have been deported. This trial takes place against a background of
increasingly hostile attitudes to asylum-seekers in the UK.

Demonstrate outside Oxford Crown Court: 8.30am Daily from Monday 1 June 1998
till end of trial

Please write or fax calling for the charges to be dropped. to: 

Dame B. Mills
Director of Public Prosecutions
50 ludgate Hill
London EC4M 7EK
Fax: 0171-329-8366

Jack Straw. Home Secretary
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
Fax: 0171-273-3965

    Please let us know if YOU would like to help the Campaign to get the
charges dropped and the men freed.

The Campaign needs donations, please make cheques out to:
 "Campsfield Nine Defence Campaign": 
and send to
 "Campaign to Close Campsfield" 
111 Magdalen Road, 
Oxford
Tel:  01865-558145 or 726804 or 240075
E-mail: campsfield9@ncadc.demon.co.uk


Refugees Are Not Criminals
Drop the Charges Now





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