| Events |
Read more about upcoming events on the
Events page.
Demonstration at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook
2006-04-08 -
London
Scotland International Day of Action
2006-04-08 -
Glasgow
Communications House Demonstration
2006-04-10 -
London
Demonstration and March in Manchester
2006-04-15 -
Manchester
Demonstration at Campsfield House
2006-04-29 -
Oxford
Convergence on Villawood Detention Centre
2006-04-14 -
Australia
Solidarity Vigil at Perth Detention Centre
2006-04-?? -
Australia
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Vigil in memory of Bereket Yohannes
Media release 26 January 2006
Eighth asylum seeker takes own life while in a detention centre
Storm of protest by fellow detainees
Vigil outside "New Asylum Model Fast Track" detention centre
Human rights and anti detention groups will hold a vigil in memory of
Bereket Yohannes at 12 noon this coming Sunday 29th January outside Harmondsworth
detention centre, on the A4 on the north edge of Heathrow Airport, west London.
Bereket Yohannes, from Eritrea, was found hanged in the showers at
Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre at 5.25pm on Thursday 19th January 2006. He was
the eighth asylum seeker to die at his own hands whilst incarcerated in a UK
detention centre. Like the others - Manuel Bravo, Ramazan Kamluca, Kenny
Peter, Tran Quang Tung, Sergey Barnuyck, Mikhail Bognarchuk, and Robertas Grabys -
he found the prospect of removal too much and death became preferable to
deportation. 26-year-old Bereket Yohannes had only been in Harmondsworth a few
weeks; he was terrified of being deported to Eritrea, had found the conditions in
the detention centre unbearable.
Following his death, fellow detainees drew up a 10-point list of demands
including a request for the release from detention of all immigration
detainees.
The vigil has been called in the name of Barbed Wire Britain Network to End
Refugee and Migrant Detention. A spokesperson for the Network said:
"We are shocked to hear of yet another suicide in detention. When will the
public and government realise that the new regime of fast-tracking the claims of
people seeking political asylum is leading to an increase in numbers of
detained asylum seekers taking their own lives. This reflects the fact that
fast-tracking is just a faster denial of justice.
"The Government is responsible for the death of Bereket Johannes, as it is
for the deaths of all 34 asylum seekers who have taken their own lives since
January 2000, six of these being in ordinary prisons.
"Hiring private companies to lock up tens of thousands of entirely innocent
people every year in immigration detention centres in unjustified and must be
stopped."
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Read more |
Vigil in memory of Bereket Yohannes
2006-01-27 -
Eighth asylum seeker takes own life while in a detention
centre
Read more
Detainees protest following the suicide of
Bereket Yohannes in Harmondsworth
2006-01-20 -
Statement of 61 detainees at Harmondsworth
Read more
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