Detention Watch from Zimbabwe Association

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tel/Fax: 02380 879675
General: 07714736382
P O Box 248, Hythe, SO45 4WX, United Kingdom

Detention Watch from Zimbabwe Association

LONDON - Recently the ZA was invited to speak at the AGM of Asylum Aid, a well known charity (co-author of Justice Denied). It was a good opportunity to publicise the situation of our members more widely, and also enabled us to build better links with a much larger more experienced organisation. As the area of asylum becomes even more complex and difficult, we have to accept that getting status as a refugee in the UK is going to get much harder.
New Legal Aid regulations are to be introduced in the coming months, which are expected to result in increased difficulties in accessing competent legal representation.
We are anxiously awaiting further news regarding the AA case but are unable to predict when this may be forthcoming. As long as it has not been fully determined, Zimbabwean asylum seekers should not be removed from the UK. Cases that are dependant on the AA case are unlikely to progress until AA is determined.
Reports have been received of two more people detained this week. One person was transferred to a detention centre after completing a prison sentence. The other was detained when signing but she arrived in the UK on a South African passport and is being regarded as South African by Immigration.
Some detainees have had problems getting out on bail and this is largely due to their poor reporting record. If your asylum case is ongoing it is important to stick to reporting regulations if you are to avoid such problems at a future date. For those worried about being detained when reporting it might be of interest to know that it costs over £800 a week to keep someone in detention.
We’ve had requests from members to send out information via email more regularly. The reason we had to stop doing this was because many faulty email addresses resulted in a lot of rebounding emails. If you would like us to send you information via email please email the office.
Please note that the ZA Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday 29 October at Development House.
We can be contacted at the office on 020 7549 0355 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, messages may be left on the answer machine at other times, or by fax 020 7549 0356 or email: zimbabweassociation@yahoo.co.uk. We also have a website at www.zimbabweassociation.org