London targets political refugees

The British government is using its new "fast-track" approach to asylum cases to attack politically active asylum seekers. People who have been prominent opponents of western-backed dictatorships in Africa and who have played an active role in fighting the Immigration and Asylum Act face the prospect of deportation in the coming months as the authorities rush their appeals through.

They have chosen International Human Rights Day, December 10, for the appeal hearings of Affiong Southey, a leading member of the National Association of Nigerian Students, and Alexis Ehipah, a leader of the students' union of the Ivory Coast. Both are campaigners for African liberation and asylum rights in Britain.

Sections of the trade union and student movements, anti-racists, the black community and refugee organisations have launched a campaign to stop these attacks. "Every deportation we stop strengthens the fight against this racist law and helps to build the struggle for liberation against repressive regimes in Africa and elsewhere. The fight to defend these activists is essential to defend the rights of every refugee, asylum seeker and immigrant threatened by the Act. Experience has shown that united, militant campaigns can stop these deportations", the campaign organisers said in a statement.

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