The IFIR is
calling on its members and supporters to picket Uxbridge Magistrates Court at
9am on April 17 in defence of Bristol teacher Michael Taylor whose trial will
set an important new precedent for civil rights and human rights in the
UK. Taylor was arrested and charged
with ‘refusal to leave the airport’
and ‘organising a demonstration on
airport property’ at Heathrow last August in an attempt to save 34 year
old, Kurdish asylum seeker Amanj Gafor from deportation and subsequent
execution in Iraq. After
being rejected by 6 European countries because Iraq is considered a 'safe
haven' (even though his father was executed there) Amanj has developed
Schizophrenia and is now sectioned in a Nuremburg Mental Hospital in Germany
and awaits removal to Iraq.
At the last hearing on April 6, the trial was moved to the largest courtroom when public galleries overflowed as refugees, human rights campaigners, including from IFIR-UK Branch and trade union delegations packed in to hear the case. Magistrates ruled that airport by-laws forbid demonstrations stating that ‘Heathrow is the world’s largest and busiest airport’ and that ‘there are issues of public safety and anti-terrorist measures involved’. The prohibition could have serious consequences for industrial action on property owned by the British Airports Authority. Civil rights solicitor Jim Nichol is using Article 2 ‘the Right to Life’, Article 10 ‘the Right to Assemble’ and Article 11 ‘the Right to Freedom of Expression’ of the new Human Rights Act to defend the rights of the deported refugee. More information on the case is available online at both the Bristol Defend Asylum Seekers Campaign website: http://www.geocities.com/bdasc/ and at the website of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns: http://www.ndadc.org.uk/