http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/georgemwas/
My name is George Mwangi. I am a 31-year-old Kenyan male asylum seeker with a partner and 2-year-old daughter and my asylum case is pending reconsideration since 24th August 2006. My Home Office reference is M709238, and Port reference: SP/02/9080.
I am writing to appeal to you to sign my petition to the Home Secretary, and the Minister of State for Immigration, to promptly reconsider my case and grant me permission to remain in the United Kingdom indefinitely, the background to which is as follows.
I entered the UK clandestinely in August 2002, having fled from Kenya, where I am in direct danger of a revenge attack by policemen associated with a mass-murder of suspected members of the Mungiki sect, which I was a witness to. I am not a member of the sect, but I sympathised with some of their ideals, which decreases further the likelihood of police protection should I be returned home.
My original claim for asylum dates back to 1995 when I fled, fearful for my life, having been falsely accused by Kenyan security forces of being part of the February Eighteenth Revolution Army (FERA). That application was denied, but in 1999, with my appeal rights still not exhausted, I returned to my country having been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), after receiving what I believed were reliable assurances that those accused of belonging to FERA were no longer being persecuted, - providing we did not become involved in political activities - following an issuing of an amnesty by the government.
I began running a successful printing and cyber café business in Thika town. But in 2001, my life was put in danger once more, after I unwittingly carried out a printing job for the (now) banned sect, Mungiki. I was arrested 25th September 2001 and taken to Thika Police Station, on the outskirts of Nairobi, where I witnessed the murder of six suspected Mungiki followers, who were beaten to death by the police.
I was detained for six days, beaten and tortured by policemen intent on extracting a confession from me (for which I have an independent Medico-Legal report), and only released after my family managed to bribe the officers, who were themselves coming under scrutiny as news of the murders became public and an investigation was mounted. On the night of my release, which to the best of my recollection was the 30th September 2001, rogue policemen or the Mungiki set fire to my house in the middle of the night. I had managed to escape into the coffee plantations a few minutes before.
My cousin, Samuel Mwangi, a moderate member of the origins of the Mungiki sect, helped me to flee Kenya. He has since been murdered, either by Mungiki or rogue police officers, a matter reported in the Kenyan national press. I made my way overland to Uganda, and arrived on the 1st October. I was taken to Rwanda on 4th October 2001. During this journey, my cousin informed me that not just the rogue members of the police force, but also Mungiki members were attempting to find me, convinced I had betrayed them. I stayed in Rwanda until August 2002, but was forced to leave after discovering that the documents obtained for me to facilitate my stay in Rwanda were false. My fear of arrest by the Rwandan authorities was exacerbated by my experience in detention in Kenya.
I entered the UK illegally on Sunday 11th August 2002, and reported to a solicitor on Monday, 12th August 2002, the first available opportunity. I reported to Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) at Lunar House in Croydon but immigration officials there would not accept that I had in fact left the country (UK), and I was not able to make my asylum application until 28th August 2002, when the complications were resolved. My application was refused on 2nd May 2003; the Home Office deciding what has happened to me was ‘not credible’. My appeal against the decision on 24th September 2003 was dismissed. I then sought permission to appeal to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal on 11th May 2004, which was refused on 10th September 2004. On the 24th September 2004, I became Appeal Rights Exhausted and was detained on 14th August 2005.
Since being detained by the UK immigration, I had been representing myself, my solicitor having failed to secure legal aid to represent me, and I considered that my ability to represent myself was severely hampered during my detention in Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (where I have been detained since 25th September 2005). This was due to excessive poor management and numerous instances of staff employed by the United Kingdom Detention Services (Kalyx), which operates the centre, routinely flouting Detention Services Operating Standards, including confiscating my legal papers at crucial points in my case and restricting access to telephone, post, fax, internet and photocopier services; and solitary confinement for three weeks, as a punishment for complaining through the grievance procedures. I have outlined my grievances with this, and the handling of my case by the UK Immigration Service in papers I intend to get lodged at the Royal Courts of Justice, as a judicial review, and a civil claim of the practices of both the Home Office and UKDS (now Kalyx) is to be granted.
I was released having spent horrific 8 ½ months in the immigration detention estate, - where I witnessed appaling levels of mental degradation, self-harm, attenpted and successful suicide - after initiating Habeas Corpus and judicial review proceedings. Before release, I helped fellow detainees to challenge their prolonged detention and many got released. I continue to support detainees to challenge the arbitrary detention driven by Government targets and unfair immigration decision-making and proceedings, where many detainees lack legal representation. I was short-listed for the Liberty & Justice Human Rights Award in 2006, and I am currently involved with various organisations dealing with various aspects to help immigration detainees to be released, among other campaigns for asylum seekers and migrant’ rights, and hope to complete an MA in Activism and Social Change at the University of Leeds from this September.
The ongoing activities of the Mungiki sect continue to pose a danger to my safety, and should be considered expeditely and new determinations made. I have had severe reservations as to the handling of my asylum claim, especially after got hold of my file from the Home Office through a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. The Immigration Service did not want to face me in High Court for the Judicial Review Claim, among other very distressing decisions making and serious processing flaws. Recent responses from the MP’s Correspondence Section via the Minister of State for Immigration also contradict the facts of the current position of my case, and there seems no end to this whole bureaucratic ping-pong of my case, and I kindly urge the Minister to use his discretion to end this misery.
I still suffer from the effects of my detention due to those traumatic experiences, and PTSD. I am unsure about my future and haven’t seen my baby daughter who was born in the UK, and my partner since I was detained almost two years ago. My partner Honey* and daughter were forced to return to Kenya whilst I was being detained, after I was twice denied bail by the UK immigration courts for ‘having no close family ties’, and ‘risk of absconding’.
Yours in solidarity,
George Mwangi Email: georgemwas@yahoo.com
*I have changed Honey's name for reasons of her safety.
