Please send Meltem a Season's Greetings card
You can also send a present, but please do not include any "banned items" such as food (including chewing gum), medication, anything containing glass, aerosols, or any sharp objects.
Meltem and Cennet Avcil
Room 46
Millbank Induction Centre
Millbank Road
Ashford
Kent
TN23 3JD
Please let the campaign know of any cards/gifts sent.
(Posted 07/12/07) "Still not clear what is happening/going to happen. Still in Millbank Induction Centre but is 'Millbank' an induction centre or part of a *'Home Office alternative to detention pilot scheme'.
What seems clear is that Meltem (still not receiving education) and her mum do not seem to be any nearer to getting back to Doncastor."
*'Families will be accommodated for an average of 8 weeks, during which time they will work with dedicated advisers who will explain the procedure for voluntary return and liaise with the International Organisation for Migration to facilitate their return.'
Meltem Avcil has been released from Yarl's Wood
Meltem finally gets to blow out the candles on her birthday cake !
Meltem, the 14-year-old Kurdish schoolgirl from Doncaster, and her mother were finally released from Yarl's Wood last Friday 23rd November.
Family members joined her at a celebration on Saturday evening when she finally got to blow out the candles on her birthday cake (photos above and below).
Meltem asked her solicitor Allan Van As, to convey her sincere thanks to each and every one of you who support the campaign.
Meltem was hoping to meet with a delegation from the European Parliament who were visiting Yarl's Wood last Wednesday, Meltem's 14th birthday. But instead she was taken to Bedford hospital.
It seems that the Home Office may have booked a private jet to deport Meltem and her mother to Germany on Thursday morning. Meltem and her solicitor had not received any "removal directions" but German police confirmed that a jet was landing on Thursday morning.
The Children's Commissioner, Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, visited Meltem in Bedford hospital.
The Home Office faxed Meltem's solicitor saying there were no removal directions.
Many facts remain a mystery and many of Meltem's supporters were left feeling deeply disturbed about the way the Home Office have dealt with Meltem.
Meltem and her mother are now being accommodated at Millbank Induction Centre in Ashford, Kent, far away from her school in Doncaster where she should be studying for her exams. There is no indication at the moment that she will be accommodated back in Doncaster.
It seems the campaign is not over yet - please contact Meltem's campaign to find out how you can be involved.
Meanwhile, congratulations to Robina Qureshi of PAIH and Theresa Schleicher of SOAS, who have worked so hard to put the issue in the public domain and all those who have campaigned/supported for all achieved so far!
"Kurdish girl, 14, released from detention after health concerns"
By Chris Green and Robert Verkaik, Published: 24 November 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article3191509.ece
"Deportation of suicidal Kurdish teenager halted"
By Emily Dugan and Chris Green, Published: 23 November 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3187116.ece
"Two pictures of Britain's brutal asylum policy"
By Emily Dugan, Robert Verkaik and Chris Green, Published: 21 November 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3179641.ece
Contact: Theresa Schleicher at the SOAS Detainee Support Group
Email : theresa.schleicher@hotmail.co.uk
Mobile : 07716 510148
Or:
Robina Qureshi, PAIH (Positive Action in Housing)
robina@paih.org
Source for this Message:
SOAS Detainee Support Group
Meltem Avcil set to spend her 14th birthday behind bars in Yarl's Wood IRC
Please send Meltem a birthday card!
Meltem is set to have her 14th birthday on Wednesday 21st November - behind bars in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre where she has been imprisoned for almost 3 months.
In August 2007, 12 immigration officials carried out a "dawn raid" on the Avcil's family home in Doncaster. They were then taken to Yarl's Wood in a caged van and have been held there since.
Meltem had been hoping she would be released before her birthday and would be able to celebrate with her friends in Doncaster, but instead the home office attempted to remove her on Thursday 15th November. Meltem had to watch her mother crying and Meltem says she saw her mother getting hurt. They were taken off the plane because she couldn't stop crying.
Since being incarcerated at Yarl's Wood, Meltem has had no appropriate schooling. She and her mother have had poor medical and social support. Her mental and psychological state has deteriorated and she had to be brought to hospital after self-harming.
Juliet Stevenson, the actress, who met Meltem recently while visiting Yarl's Wood detention centre with Women for Refugee Women, said, "I am shocked that this young girl is being put through such an ordeal."
Speaking of her experience at Yarl's Wood, Meltem said:
"I feel like I've committed a crime or something, I feel ashamed. They treat people like animals in here - it's no different from a jail. I've been living I this country for six years now and they want to deport me back to a country I don't even know."
The family's solicitor says he is making further representations on Meltem's behalf.
What you can do
1.) Please send Meltem a birthday card. You can also send her a present, but please do not include any "banned items" - e.g. any food stuffs (including chewing gum), medication, any thing containing glass, aerosols, or any sharp objects.
Meltem Avcil - Room C135
Yarl's Wood IRC
Twinwoods Road
Clapham
Bedfordshire
MK41 6HL
2.) Please send faxes and/or letters to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Meltem be released on her 14th birthday and be granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK. You can download the "model letter" (MeltemBdayLetter) or copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref: A1127471/3).
To: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd Floor, Peel Buildings
2 Marsham Street
London, SW1P 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)
Please let the campaign know of any faxes or letters sent ;
Contact : Theresa Schleicher
Email : theresa.schleicher@hotmail.co.uk
Mobile : 07716 510148
