If you have press contacts, please circulate the below immediately and, if
you have not yet sent a letter of support for Abbas to the Home Office,
please get in touch and we can email you a model letter from which to
abstract if you need one.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keep Abbas in Sheffield"
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 11:28 AM
Subject: RADAR fights for Abbas
Leading national disability charity RADAR pledged its full support to the
campaign to prevent Abbas Sharifi from being forcibly removed from the UK
today.
Liz Sayce, chief executive of RADAR, said: "RADAR is deeply concerned that
deporting Abbas would constitute a breach of his human rights and the
Disability Discrimination Act." She went on to comment that "it is
abundantly clear to RADAR that a) Abbas should not be travelling given his
health conditions and b) there is a very strong and compelling case for
giving him leave to remain in the UK given that he will simply not receive
support for his mental health problems in Afghanistan."
Abbas' campaign continues to urge Alan Johnson to heed the growing concerns
about this inhumane deportation. Paul Scriven, the leader of Sheffield City
Council, along with Meg Munn, Abbas' MP, have recently queried the Home
Office's decision to deport Abbas along with a number of other Disabled
People on its chartered flight to Afghanistan this evening.
Abbas' campaign has been advised that 200 Afghani nationals are currently
awaiting deportation today at the Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre
near
Gatwick. Besides Abbas, these include a number of other Disabled People from
areas such as Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds and East London.
Abbas' campaign has called upon the Home Secretary to:
* Cancel the flight
* Bail Abbas so that he can return to his friends in Sheffield and get the
medical treatment he needs and
* Reopen his case, granting him "discretionary leave, as he has an
exceptional medical condition."
Notes to Editors:
1) Abbas Sharifi, a 49 year old disabled Afghani man, is due to be forcibly
removed from the UK at 21:30 today on an 'ethnic charter flight' (flight
PVT008 to Baku for onward transit to Kabul/Afghanistan) from Gatwick Airport
under the UK Home Office 'Ravel' programme.
2) Abbas has physical impairments for which he is receiving outpatient
treatment at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. He has also been
diagnosed as having an acute mental health condition for which he is in
receipt of ongoing therapeutic treatment and prescribed medication.
3) RADAR (www.radar.org.uk) describes itself as "the leading 'disability
network' in the UK, with in-depth experience of disability in all its
diversity."
4) To contact Abbas' campaign:
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: +44 (0)114 225 8676
Mobile: +44 (0)7877 203 391
________________End of message________________
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