Aegis calls British Aiways to refuse to carry a Darfurian to Sudan
Aegis Trust
Aegis Trust calls on BA to stop taking Darfuris to face torture in Khartoum
April 2, 2007 — The Aegis Trust has today written an open letter to British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh, calling on the airline to refuse to carry Mr Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali, a survivor of ethnic cleansing from Darfur, to Khartoum at 2.35pm tomorrow. In the letter, Aegis sets out the legal basis on which BA should now take this action.
The Home Office is removing Mr Ali as a failed asylum seeker. It argues that Khartoum is safe enough for Darfuri Africans, despite mass atrocities committed against them in Darfur by the Sudanese Government during the past four years.
Fresh evidence of torture
New evidence brought to light by Aegis, presented in The Guardian and on Channel Four News on Thursday last week, chillingly illustrates the torture that Darfuri Africans can expect if and when they are removed to Sudan as failed asylum seekers. Despite this, the Home Office is proceeding with steps to remove Darfuri Africans to Sudan.
Further removals by the Home Office may be prevented when a judgement is given in a country guidance case on Sudan this Wednesday, 4 April, but that will come too late to save Mr Ali – who is due to be removed on BA flight 6533 from London Heathrow at 2.35pm on Tuesday 3 April.
‘All the wrong messages’
“In light of the latest evidence about the dangers for Darfuris in Khartoum, it’s little wonder that Mohammed Abdulhadi is terrified at the prospect of his removal there on Tuesday. Faced with compelling evidence of torture in Khartoum, BA should now refuse to carry failed Darfuri African asylum seekers to the city.
“Tony Blair’s talked tough on Darfur, but his government is sending all the wrong messages to Khartoum. We learn from history that we shouldn’t show genocidal regimes how little we care for their victims. In July 1938, 32 governments around the world decided at the Evian Conference in Geneva that they did not have room for Jews fleeing persecution in Germany. It proved to be a turning-point, as the Nazis realised they could unleash total destruction on the Jews with impunity. As Goebbels is reported to have said of the Jews after Evian, ‘Nobody wants the scum!’
“If the Darfur crisis was really taken seriously at the highest level of Government, you would not have officials making such stupid decisions. It stems from this: that the British Government does not grasp the gravity of the terror faced by Africans in Darfur.”
ENDS
For more information, contact Media Officer David Brown, mobile: 07812 640873, tel: 01623 836627, email: [email protected]
OPEN LETTER to BA follows
Mr Willie Walsh
Chief Executive
British Airways
2 April 2007
Dear Mr Walsh,
OPEN LETTER
URGENT REQUEST for BA to refuse passage to Darfuri African asylum seekers being removed by the Home Office from the UK to Khartoum
In light of compelling evidence that Darfuri Africans removed from the UK to Khartoum face torture and possible death, the Aegis Trust calls on British Airways to refuse to carry Mr Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali (booked for BA flight 6533, departing Heathrow Airport 14.35hrs tomorrow Tuesday 3 April), and further calls on BA to refuse to carry any Darfuri African, refused asylum in the UK, to Khartoum or to any other destination outside the UK from which he or she could be taken on to Khartoum.
Context – ethnic cleansing
Since 2003, up to 400,000 Darfuri Africans have been murdered and around 2.5 million displaced in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Sudanese Government and its proxy Arab militias. Around a thousand survivors from Darfur have managed to reach the UK.
Insisting that while Darfur is dangerous, Khartoum is safe enough to send them there, the Home Office has refused asylum to hundreds and over the past two years, has sent several back to Khartoum.
Fresh evidence of torture
Sent back in February, Sadiq Adam Osman managed to contact a friend in the UK, who alerted the Aegis Trust that he was being interrogated and tortured. Aegis helped him escape to a third country, and sent doctors to examine him and a journalist – Inigo Gilmore – to interview him. Gilmore’s reports appeared in the Guardian and on Channel Four News on 29 March. They are available online:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2044922,00.html
Despite the shocking evidence of torture contained in these reports, the Home Office has continued with preparations to remove Darfuri African asylum seekers. We know from the evidence – which you can see for yourself at the above links – that their lives are in the balance.
To find out more about Abdulhadi’s case, see this report from the Independent on 28 March:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2398874.ece
Also this from The Times today, 2 April – which quotes Mohammed Abdulhadi at the end:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa//article1599808.ece?Submitted=true
Country Guidance case ruling imminent
If British Airways is still in any doubt after reviewing the evidence linked above, we would urge the airline to refuse to carry Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali – or any other Darfuri African asylum seeker being removed to Khartoum – until the judgement due on Wednesday 4 April in a country guidance case on Sudan, expected to clarify the legal position vis-à-vis the dangers of Khartoum for Darfuris – and likely to prevent the Home Office making any further removals of this kind.
BA’s legal responsibilities
The Aegis Trust is aware that according to section 143 of the 1971 Immigration Act a person (which includes a corporation) will be criminally responsible for an offence if it knowingly “does an act which facilitates a commission of a breach of immigration law by an individual who is not a citizen of the European Union.” “An act” usually includes an omission i.e. failing to act where there is a duty to do so.
In addition, section 27 of the 1971 Act provides that a person will be criminally liable if:
1. As a captain, s/he fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any directions given to her/him with regard to the removal of a person from the UK.
2. The owner or agent of air services fails, without reasonable excuse, to make arrangements for or in connection with the removal of a person where required do so.
Grounds for ‘Reasonable Excuse’
British Airways should now refuse to comply with the Home Office’s order to remove Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali “with reasonable excuse”, on both legal and moral grounds:
Legal grounds
The UK has signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees (“Refugee Convention”) and therefore the UK is bound by its provisions.
Article 33 of the Refugee Convention provides that contracting states may not “expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
There is no question that Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali – and others like him – are victims of persecution on ethnic grounds, and more likely, potential victims of genocide. Mohammed Abdulhadi, therefore, constitutes a refugee who may not be returned for the purposes of Article 33.
By requiring the deportation of Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali, the UK, through the conduct of the Home Office, is in breach of international law.
In addition, increasingly, international law recognises the role of non-state actors, such as corporations like BA, and their obligation to comply with international law.
Therefore, BA is bound by two conflicting laws: the one national i.e. the Immigration Act and an international law i.e. the principle of non-refoulement.
It is a principle of both international and European law that international law trumps state law: a state may not legislate or implement legislation which is at odds with international law and the state’s international obligations and, to the extent that it does so, such national law is invalid.
BA, therefore, must comply with international law and refuse to deport Abdulhadi and others in his position.
This obligation is further compounded by the fact that the ICC is investigating Khartoum for crimes against humanity and genocide. Two indictments have been issued. As a result, the Khartoum Government has refused access to the ICC. The ICC’s investigation now is limited to refugees who have escaped the Sudan. Abdulhadi is such a refugee and may be a potential source of investigation for the ICC. The deportation of Abdulhadi back to the Sudan threatens not only his individual autonomy and life but also has the potential to interfere with the investigation of the ICC.
Moral grounds
BA has a moral obligation not to deport Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali. Your knowledge of clear evidence that the deportation will result in his suffering and, potentially, his death, would be tantamount to making the airline an accomplice in that fate.
The activity of the west and western companies during the Holocaust demonstrates the importance such entities can play. The very least BA can do is oppose the government’s policy in respect of Darfurians, who, in the context of Sudan, are facing genocide, and refuse to return Mohammed Abdulhadi.
Both the legal and the moral arguments represent extremely “reasonable excuse” not to remove Mohammed Adbulhadi, as defined by the Immigration Act.
Urgent decision needed
Since there is a period of less than 24 hours before Mohammed Abdulhadi Ali will be removed – on BA flight 6355 at 14.35hrs from Heathrow to Khartoum – we request that BA give this letter immediate and urgent consideration, and provide the Aegis Trust with a written response today.
With sincere regards,
Dr James Smith
Chief Executive
The Aegis Trust