Liam Byrne, Immigration Minister

2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

fax 020 7219 2417

emails liam.byrne.submissions@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk and byrnel@parliament.uk

cc:   winvisible@allwomencount.net; payday@paydaynet.org  

Dear Mr Byrne,

I write about Mr Peter Gichura (HO ref: G1053958), a disabled activist and wheelchair user from Kenya, who is under threat of deportation.  He fled Kenya in 2001, following death threats from the police for his political activity in Mwanzo Disabled Development Society (MDDS), an organization of disabled street hawkers.  Despite elections in 2002, fighting has continued in the country and he fears his life will be in danger if he is returned.

Mr Gichura is a father, a wheelchair user and disability activist.  He applied for asylum from political persecution and for medical treatment without which he would die. His most recent application in 2006, when his spinal injury worsened, was refused with the words: "a person's medical condition must be at such a critical stage that there are compelling humanitarian grounds for not removing them to a country which lacks the medical and social services to prevent acute suffering before death".  Is it acceptable that the right not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment under Art. 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights has been reduced purely to the right not to suffer unduly whilst dying? 

When experts like Rachel Hurst OBE (Disability Awareness in Action and member of the Advisory Group to the government Office for Disability Issues) confirm that, if deported, Mr Gichura, as someone with a spinal injury, would almost certainly not survive for long -- how much more “compelling” or “critical” can someone’s situation be? 

Mr Gichura was detained in Harmondsworth detention centre twice, most recently in August 2006, in appalling conditions where he was unable to use the bathroom and toilet properly, was searched in a painful and threatening way, and on the first occasion (February 2006), given the wrong medication.  He has launched a legal case under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Human Rights Act (HRA), however, if removed, he will be denied even the basic right to be present to prepare his own case.

Payday, a multiracial network of men, says: “Peter Gichura is a valued member of our network.  He was persecuted for defending the rights of disabled people.  We now defend him from almost certain death.  With his life and organising experience he makes an enormous contribution, which neither we nor the community in general can be deprived of.”

Support has come from hundreds of individuals and organisations, including representatives of five major disability charities. 

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, writing to you in support of Mr Gichura on 12 October, said: “I would underline the wider social consequences of handling cases like these in ways that entrench . . . a perception that the UK immigration regime is unbalanced, unjust and inhumane.  I recall . . .the European Convention on Human Rights, ‘Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law’”.  He proposes discussion with the Home Office “to find some more humane middle ground” than the current refusal of medical grounds.

People with disabilities have not only the right to life but also the right to live free from fear. 

We urge you to grant Peter Gichura the right to stay.

Yours sincerely,