At dawn on Thursday 18th October, Cardiff residents Fariman Saleh and her two children were dragged from their beds to be put on board the 15.00hrs Egypt Air flight to Cairo. The family sought refuge in the UK following 15 years of domestic abuse at the hands of Ms. Saleh’s husband, but their initial claims for asylum, as is routinely the case, were refused.
These videos show the callous nature of the raid, the lies told by UKBA staff (for example, that members of the public are not allowed to film the officers – you can and should!), and a clear sense that UKBA officers are used to acting with impunity. You will also see one person lying beneath the car in an apparent attempt to stop the family being taken away, while the remaining daughter can be heard weeping. Sadly, these raids are taking place all the time but this is a rare instance for which we have footage of the event.
View the footage here and here.
Throughout the day, friends and supporters called Egypt Air and spoke to staff at Heathrow Airport in a bid to persuade the airline not to deport the family. Thankfully, the family’s deportation was cancelled at the last minute for ‘technical reasons’, although they remain in the capitivity of G4S & Barnardo’s Cedars family detention centre and are likely to be subject to another deportation attempt.
Why not give Cedars or Barnardos a call?
Cedars
Phone: 01293 844900
Fax: 01293 844945
Barnardo’s Head Office
Telephone: 0208 550 8822
Fax: 0208 551 6870
See this blog for more on how you can support Fariman and her family: http://savemrssalehandfamily.blogspot.co.uk/
And for those of you who do Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/givehersanctuary?ref=ts&fref=ts