care scandal for I was cooking supper and half listening to the news at the same time, when a story caught my attention. It started with a woman who had been refused asylum and had subsequently been billed several thousand pounds for giving birth in a British hospital.
She was terrified as she couldn't pay and deeply concerned that if she or the child became sick she might be refused treatment because of the previous bills.
Hers was not the onlv story. Others included an asylum seeker involved in a road ramic acciaent and taken to hospital. He was then discovered to have bowel cancer and told he would be liable for upwards of £7000 for the operation. He did not have the treatment.
The interviewer discussing these and other cases with a representative from the Refugee Council kept referring to people being in the country illegally taking scarce NHS resources. She was not rebutted forcefully enough for my liking.
Since April 2004 those WOO have Deen rerused asylum and reached the end of the appeals process are liable to pay for non-urgent hospital care.
Of course this regulation is an outrage in itself, like all the other rules and regulations which surround those Since Tham Sarki sought refuge in Britain in 2001, the situation in his native Nepal has become even more dangerous. Spurred on by his hatred of the caste system that had discriminated against him, Tham joined the Maoist rebellion against the despotic monarchist regime, but was forced to flee his country.
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office recently stated:
"The King's takeover of power on 1 February 2005 has further worsened the human rights situation in Nepal. The move was accompanied by a state of emergency which Hall y politicians, human rights activists and journalists were imprisoned and a number of fundamental mous were removed
Many of those detained have subsequently been released but the ensuing climate of tear has meant that many human rights activists and organisations have either fled or gone to ground.
Many rights defenders have also been harassed and intimidated by being followed or threatened by the security forces, which has severelv reduced human rights monitoring in the country."
They also go on to advise Britons not to travel to Nepal as "the situation remains unpredictable and there is a possibility of further violence ane asturbancer in une aurermath of the election, including in the run-up to the tenvear anniversarv of the People's War on 13 February 2006. We may extend the duration of our advice."
This is something of an embarrassment for the British Government and establishment that is on very warm terms with the Nepalese Royal Family that has ruled Nepal with an iron fist for many years. The UK has slavishly followed the USA in its support of King Gyanendra's regime as part of the "war on
Tham must
stay
Lobby the
tribunal hearing
Friday March 31
9.45am
Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal Field House
15 Breams Buildings
London EC4A 1DZ Bring banners For more details or a copy of the model letter to Home Secretary Charles Clarke, call Pat on 07913 701 042 or email [email protected]
Send donations to (cheques made out to LARAG) Tham Sarki Campaign, 114 Shell Road SE13 7DF. Tham (front) needs your support
Since 1997, Blair's administration has licensed the sale of weaponry such as assault and sniper rifles (Campaign Against the Arms Trade report January 2003). Between LUUU and 2004, Blair's government presented the Royal Nepalese Army with "gifts" that included 2 Mil7 helicopters and "Infrastructure Support and office equipment for RNA intelligence school (Amnesty Report June 2005)
As recently as April 2004, the BBC reported that "the administration of US President George W Bush is investing $17million of military aid in the RNA, mainly to pay for about 20,000 M16 rifles and night vision equipment"
Tham should be
HOL returned to Nepal to face the wrath of the security forces whose regime has given them licence to imprison, torture and dispose of their opponents with impunity.
1 ne Secretary should give Tham the right to slav lil Britain today, and should also consider that deporting Tham tantamount to signing his death warrant
We need the biggest possible turn out at his tribunal hearing. Bill MacKeith A VIGIL was held outside Harmondsworth Immigration detention centre in West London on January 19, in memory of Bereket Yohannes, a 26 year-old Eritrean man facing deportation who had hanged himself earlier that month.
This was the twelfth death in an immigration detention centre in Britain and the fourth in one of the two Heathrow detention centres.
The fact that people are driven to take their own lives in preference to being deported back to countries from which they have fled makes clear the horror from which asylum seekers are fleeing.
Enough is enough. Those assembled decided there was an urgent need for a new campaign to close down all immigration detention centres in the London area.
As a result a new campaign, London against Detention, was formed on February 26. LAD is committed to mounting a high profile campaign with regular street stalls, public meetings and other actions.
One of the first activities of the new campaign will be to mobilise for a demonstration outside Harmondsworth and Colnbrook on April 8, called jointly with London No Borders.
This date has been fixed i solidarity with a week of