Please help Ibrahim Mutahar Alkhader and his children
Don't let the Home Office split this family up!
Ibrahim with four of his children
Ibrahim and four of his children are currently detained in Dungavel IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK tomorrow Wednesday 10th September on British Airways flight BA1493 from Glasgow at 17.10hrs to London Heathrow Airport and then on Yemen Airways flight IY743 at 21:00hrs to Sana'a Airport, Yemen.
Ibrahim came to the UK to work as a high-ranking Yemeni diplomat in the Yemeni Embassy in London. He worked there for four years from 2001 until 2005.
In 2005 he discovered he'd been monitored by the Yemeni secret service for two years for making allegedly derogatory comments about the Yemeni president during a party at the Embassy.
The Yemeni ambassador interrogated him with two secret service men in the Embassy. They made it clear that he would be prosecuted for speaking out against the president of Yemen and could be executed. He was then suspended from work in the embassy.
In October 2006 he was eventually sacked from his job and he stayed in London trying to get his situation sorted out but while he was doing this Ibrahim began to receive threats.
As the level of threats increased Ibrahim claimed asylum in December 2007 with his wife, Hind Ahmed Alkboos and their six children: Mohammed (m) age 13, Sarah (f) age 10, Youness (m) age 9, Hajar (f) age 6, Khadeja (f) age 3, and Ahmed (m) age 2.
All now call Glasgow home having been moved there in 2008 under the NASS dispersal scheme.
On Thursday 4th September, last week, Ibrahim and four of his six children were detained when going to report at the Home Office in Glasgow. His wife, Hind and two of the children, Youness and Ahmed, however were not with him and therefore not detained and are still safe in Glasgow. Hind is very worried about Ibrahim and the four children in detention. Ibrahim has not eaten since being detained and is very weak.
The Human Rights situation in Yemen is very poor. The government and its security forces, often considered to suffer from rampant corruption, have been responsible for torture, inhumane treatment and even extrajudicial executions. Censorship is actively practiced and the security forces often monitor telephone, postal, and Internet communications. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights>
Amnesty International reported that in Yemen in 2007: "Dozens of people arrested in previous years in the context of the "war on terror" remained in indefinite detention without trial. Two escaped prisoners were killed by the security forces in circumstances that suggested they may have been extrajudicially executed. Political prisoners were tried in special courts whose proceedings fell far short of international standards. Dozens of detainees were released in Sa'da Province, but hundreds were believed to be still detained at the end of the year. Death sentences continued to be imposed and at least 30 people were reported to have been executed… [People detained] were denied access to lawyers and had no recourse to the courts to challenge the legality of their detention.
Please help Ibrahim and his four children to stay safe in Glasgow with the rest of their family where they belong.
What you can do:
All day to day
1) Fax/Phone/Email, Willie Walsh, BA Chief Executive Officer, using the model letter 'IbrahimBAfax.doc' attached, which you can copy/amend/write your own (please ensure inclusion of the details - Ibrahim Mutahar Alkhader and his children due to be forcibly removed from the UK on British Airways flight BA1493 from Glasgow at 17.10hrs to London Heathrow Airport and then on Yemen.
Fax: 020 8759 4314
Tel: 084 4493 0787
Email: willie.walsh@ba.com
2) Phone, fax or email Capt. Abdulkalek S. Al-Kadi, Chairman, Yemen Airways using the model letter IIbrahimYA.doc’ that you can copy/amend/write your own.Please make sure you include these details: Ibrahim Mutahar Alkhader and his children due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Yemen Airways flight number: IY743, Heathrow to Sana'a airport Yemen on Wednesday 10th September @ 21:00hrs.
Phone: 0207 323 3213 or 0208 759 0385
Fax: 0207 323 3132 or 0208 759 9054
