Refugees/london: after intervention of Everyone Group Annonciate Nimpagaritse is granted political Asylum in the United Kingdom
The group leaders: “another extraordinary victory to add to those for the lives of Mehdi Kazemi and Pegah Emambakhsh”.
Annociate Nimpagaritse, a woman from Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, a member of the Tutsi ethnic minority whose life was in danger from the Hutu rebels of FNL (National Liberation Forces) was due to be deported from the United Kingdom on September 25th on a Kenya Airways flight from London.
Annonciate had fled to the United Kingdom and applied for political asylum, but her application had been turned down. After EveryOne and the “Friends of Annonciate Nimpagaritse” movement had launched an international campaign to save her life on September 23rd, by writing to the British Government and the British Embassy in Italy, the woman was released from Colnbrook detention centre where she was being held and allowed to return to Sheffield, where she has lived since 2005 to await the outcome of her asylum request.
And yesterday evening the long-awaited news arrived: “Annociate Nimpagaritse, thanks to the extraordinary mobilization for her life, has obtained from the British Government authorization to stay permanently in Great Britain, and no longer faces the danger of deportation back to her country of origin”.
“Annonciate was granted asylum after a rapid, yet complicated campaign based on the information we transmitted to the British authorities”, say the leaders of EveryOne, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, “and that is, that from April 2008, (contrary to what the Border Immigration Agency said) Burundi is again in the grips of bloody reprisals by Hutu rebels towards Tutsi civilians. These rebels have rapidly brought about the murder of dozens of innocent victims and are responsible for the massacre of members of Annonciate’s own family.
The Home Office’s decision to grant Annonciate asylum after re-examining the case with humanity, not only cheers us, it also proves that with talks and an opening to others Europe still possesses models of civility, and Annonciate’s case is for everyone, starting with Italy, a great lesson in humanity and respect for minority groups: the opposite to what is taking place in our own country.
The British institutions have shown that before evidence proving there is a risk to a person’s life, it is necessary to acknowledge the fact and act rapidly in the interests of that person, whether that person is a fellow countryman or a foreigner, and reach out to help the weaker members of society, thus abandoning the path of repression and indifference.
Indeed it was after EveryOne Group and “The Friends of Annonciate” had presented a dossier showing that the political situation in Burundi is still critical for refugees of the Tutsi ethnic group that the Government overturned a decision that had already been taken in two courts, one at the Immigration Office, the other by the Supreme Court of Justice.
EveryOne Group would also like to emphasize that the interest and commitment of Pier Luigi Puglia (Head of the Press and Communication Section at the British Embassy) proved crucial, as well as the mediation of Sir Christopher Layden, the political advisor: two men attentive to human rights issues who once again made themselves available for talks and discussion in order to bring about a positive outcome to this case”.
Gruppo EveryOne
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