Pestaggi

Riceviamo e pubblichiamo un appello di Black Women’s Rape Action Project (Londra) per trovare testimoni del pestaggio, su un volo diretto in Italia, ai danni di Faith, una donna nigeriana richiedente asilo e deportata.
Si tratterebbe di provare a rintracciare il passeggero che ha filmato l’incidente o qualche altro/a passeggero/a che vi ha assistito.
Qui di seguito un articolo del Guardian, tradotto nei punti salienti da un compagno di Payday.
La decisione del 14 ottobre di cui parla l’articolo sarà presa nell’Alta Corte di Londra e andrebbe ad aggiungersi a quella contro le deportazioni in Grecia di prima dell’estate.

Chi avesse notizie può contattare direttamente le compagne londinesi: bwrap@rapeaction.net

Pubblichiamo, inoltre, il comunicato del Circolo Maurice di Torino su un altro pestaggio “made in Italy”.

Police investigate alleged assault on Nigerian mother on deportation flight
La polizia indaga su una presunta aggressione di una donna nigeriana su un volo per la deportazione
Escorts allegedly attacked failed asylum seeker in front of her young children on plane bound for Italy

Diane Taylor – guardian.co.uk, Monday 3 October 2011 17.03 BST

Faith, a Nigerian asylum seeker, who was allegedly attacked on a plane bound for Italy. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the Guardian
A police investigation has been launched into an alleged assault on a Nigerian asylum seeker in front of her three young children on a plane bound for Italy. La polizia Britannica ha aperto un’indagine su una presunta aggressione di una Nigeriana richiedente asilo davanti ai suoi tre bambini su un aereo diretto in Italia.
The alleged incident occurred just two weeks after the launch of the government’s new family-friendly removal policy. The family are one of the first to be detained under the new arrangements.
The woman, Faith, 39, said six of the eight escorts on the flight beat her on the arms and legs, twisted her hand and put hands around her neck. She said she was left spitting blood and had still not recovered. La donna, Faith, di 39 anni, ha dichiarato che sei delle otto persone di scorta sull’aereo l’hanno picchiata sulle braccia e le gambe, le hanno torto una mano e le hanno messo le mani attorno al collo.  La donna ha dichiarato che aveva sputato sangue e non si è ancora ripresa.
Her claims have raised concerns among human rights campaigners about the treatment of asylum seeker families during the revamped removals process.
Faith and her three children, aged four, six and eight, were taken by surprise when they were arrested by a group of 10 to 12 uniformed officers in a 5.30am raid at their home in Birmingham on 19 September and driven to the government’s new secure pre-departure accommodation at Pease Pottage near Crawley, West Sussex – an experience which Faith said terrified them all.
“I feel so bad. Why have all these things happened to me?” said Faith, who has asked for her surname not to be revealed. “When they came to arrest us at 5.30am at our home in Birmingham, they kept banging on the door. The children were very upset and were crying. They wouldn’t even allow me any privacy to wash myself in the bathroom before we left.”
Emma Ginn, co-ordinator of the charity Medical Justice, which campaigns to end child detention, said: “Some politicians claim the coalition agreement promise to end the immigration detention of children has been fulfilled.  They should come clean and admit the promise has been broken. The government should now do what they say they would and actually end the detention of children.” Emma Ginn, coordinatrice dell’associazione benefica Medical Justice [… ha dichiarato che] “il governo deve ora fare quello che ha detto e porre effettivamente termine alla detenzione dei bambini.”
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, announced in December 2010 that child detention was going to end in May of this year. He said the government was ending the “shameful” practice in which “children are literally taken from their homes without warning and placed behind bars”. He added: “Our reforms will deliver an approach to families that is compassionate and humane.”
Once the family were detained in Pease Pottage, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) made three failed attempts to remove them on flights to Italy, the country where Faith had been living for more than a decade, where she had permission to work and where her children were born. She said she fled Italy following persecution by her family and local community members and claimed asylum in the UK in November 2010. La UK Border Agency (UKBA) ha fatto tre tentativi falliti di rimuoverli su voli per l’Italia, il paese dove Faith è vissuta per più di un decennio, dove aveva il permesso di lavorare e dove sono nati i suoi figli.  Faith ha dichiarato di essere fuggita dall’Italia in seguito alla persecuzione da parte della sua famiglia e da membri della comunità locale e ha fatto richiesta d’asilo nel Regno Unito nel novembre 2010.
The failed removal attempts took place even though high court judges have granted several injunctions against the removal of refused asylum seekers to Italy in recent weeks. The injunctions have been granted until a decision has been made in a case about whether or not it is acceptable to forcibly remove asylum seekers to Italy. A decision is due on 14 October.  I tentativi falliti di rimozione hanno avuto luogo anche se i giudici avevano concesso numerose ingiunzioni contro la rimozione dei richiedenti asilo che fossero rispediti in Italia nelle ultime settimane.  Le ingiunzioni sono state concesse fino a che non si arriverà a una decisione su un caso che verte sull’accettabilità o meno della rimozione forzata di richiedenti asilo in Italia.  La decisione verrà annunciata il 14 ottobre.
In the first attempted removal from the UK on 22 September, Faith and her children were taken to London’s Heathrow airport and put on to the 7.30am Alitalia flight AZ 201 to Rome. Faith said she became distressed and kept saying “Oh my God, I can’t make this journey”, while strapped into her seat. At that point, the alleged assault by six of the eight escorts accompanying the family took place and the pilot ordered the escorts to take the family off the plane. Nel primo tentativo di rimozione dal Regno Unito il 22 settembre, Faith e i suoi figli vennero portati all’aeroporto londinese di Heathrow e messi sul volo Alitalia delle 7.30 numereo AZ 201 per Roma.  Faith dichiarò di sentirsi sempre più disperata e che continuava a ripetere “O Dio, non posso fare questo viaggio”, mentre veniva legata al sedile.  A quel punto ebbe luogo il presunto attacco da parte di sei delle otto persone di scorta che accompagnavano la famiglia e il pilota ordinò alle persone di scorta di far scendere la famiglia dall’aereo.
“I thought I was going to die,” said Faith. “The escorts beat me on the chest and legs, pulled my hair, twisted my left hand and put their hands around my neck. I thought they were about to strangle me. We were sitting at the back of the plane with five male escorts and three female ones. Two of the women didn’t touch me but the five men and one woman assaulted me.
“I couldn’t breathe and afterwards I was spitting blood. My children were crying ‘mummy is dying, mummy is dying.’ Someone needs to talk to my children; they are very traumatised by all this. One of them said ‘When I grow up I’m going to tell the queen what they did to my mum.'”
A second deportation attempt was made the following day. The family were taken to Gatwick but were unable to board the flight to Italy as there were no seats available. Un secondo tentative di rimozione ebbe luogo il giorno seguente.  La famiglia venne portata a Gatwick ma non fu in grado di salire sul volo per l’Italia perché l’aereo era pieno.
By 26 September, the family had been in Pease Pottage for seven days, the maximum time allowed for a family to be detained under the new rules. In order to remove the family, the UKBA booked a private charter flight from Stansted airport to Italy. But the family’s lawyer intervened the day before they were due to leave and obtained a judicial review in the high court citing the pending case about forced removals to Italy. The court granted an injunction halting the planned removal. The family was subsequently released and is now back in Birmingham. Il 26 settembre […] la UKBA prenotò un charter privato per l’Italia dall’aeroporto di Stansted.  Ma l’avvocato della famiglia intervenne il giorno prima della partenza e ottenne una revisione giudiziaria in tribunale, citando il caso pendente sulle rimozioni forzate in Italia.  Il tribunale concesse un’ingiunzione che fermò la rimozione.  La famiglia venne in seguito rilasciata e adesso è ritornata a Birmingham.
Faith said she was still in pain following the assault, was finding it hard to raise her arm or leg and has difficulty opening her mouth.
“On my life, since I was born I have never received such a beating,” she said. “And to do it in front of my kids. One of the escorts called me ‘an animal’ and said he was doing his job. I replied: ‘If you kill me you will go to jail and lose your job.'”
She said one of the passengers filmed the assault on his mobile phone and she urged him and any other passengers who witnessed the incident to come forward. Faith ha detto che uno dei passeggeri ha filmato l’aggressione sul suo cellulare e invita lui e altri passeggeeri che hanno assistito all’incidente a farsi avanti.
Faith’s asylum claim was refused in January and the family was asked to report to the airport in March to board a flight to Italy. Instead, they absconded because Faith said she feared further abuse in Italy if they were returned there.
The children’s charity Barnado’s has attracted controversy after accepting a government contract to work with families at Pease Pottage.
Barnado’s said: “We have publicly set out our ‘red lines’ in regards to the use of the pre-departure accommodation and we are committed to speaking out if these are breached. We are confident that we are able to balance this with our responsibility to maintain confidentiality around individual families.”
The Home Office declined to make an official statement about the case but a spokesman confirmed West Sussex police and its own professional standards unit were investigating a serious misconduct complaint. He said the family were expected to return to Italy and that every assistance had been offered to help them do so.
Reliance took over the contract to escort immigration detainees from G4S in May of this year. The company declined to comment. Its website states: “Reliance will oversee the safe custody and welfare of detainees.”

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Solidarietà a Suad Omar

Suad Omar, mediatrice culturale e attivista contro ogni discriminazione, venerdì scorso è stata insultata picchiata, riportando la frattura di una costa, sull’autubus 63 perchè donna e nera. Denunciamo questo episodio come esito di un clima politico e culturale fetido, in cui l’illusione mediatica costruisce lo stereotipo dell’immigrata ‘altra’, marginale, che in tempi di crisi economica funziona come il più facile bersaglio della rabbia e della frustrazione. Aspetto non trascurabile dell’episodio: l’aggressore di Suad è fuggito, nessuno dei presenti l’ha saputo fermare, neanche l’autista GTT, che ha aperto la porta del bus facilitando di fatto la fuga. Questo la dice lunga sulla retorica della sicurezza, pensata sempre per i cittadini italiani nativi, bianchi, eterosessuali ma che non si occupa del sostegno a cittadini fuori della “norma”, bersagli potenziali di razzismo, sessismo, omotransfobia, ecc. A Suad va la nostra solidarietà, con l’impegno a continuare a contrastare ogni forma di discriminazione.

Il Direttivo del circolo Maurice

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