|
|
|
|
|
|
Failing our Kith & Kin 27th November 2004 Deirdre Humphreys faces a decision date
'The only way I will go back to Zimbabwe is in a box' A ZIMBABWEAN woman's desperate battle to stay in Leeds is entering its final stage. Mother-of-seven Deirdre Humphreys had her original bid for asylum rejected by the Home Office, despite her having fled in fear of her life after gangs of so-called war veterans took over white-run farms in 2000. Last year she applied for asylum having found sanctuary in England, living in Leeds on a temporary work permit. The Home Office said that Mrs Humphreys would only face risk of violence or death if she tried to live on the family farm and said the capital, Harare, was safe. But the 43-year-old said her partner's association with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - meant she would be arrested as soon as she set foot back in the country and possibly killed. An appeal against the Home Office's refusal to grant her and teenager daughter Jessica asylum will now be heard on December 14th at an appeal court in the North East. The hearing will draw to a close almost five years of "limbo" for the pair, living in a rundown terraced house near Leeds city centre. Deirdre told the YEP said: "I've lived without an identity, unable to work but also receive any benefits as my asylum case rumbles on. "No one who is in opposition, or is perceived to be against Mugabe, will be safe in Zimbabwe. "How can that country be declared safe when I find out this week that one of closest friends has been arrested and has just disappeared? "I've said it before, but I will only go back to that country in a box." Deirdre's appeal comes barely a month after the Home Office announced it would now continue to forcibly return home any Zimbabweans who fail in their asylum bids. In February 2002 it suspended this policy as it was felt the safety of failed asylum seekers could not guaranteed under Robert Mugabe's regime. Amnesty International points to systematic abuses of human rights in Zimbabwe, where the MDC and the independent media have been singled out for attack. A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Zimbabweans and other foreign nationals posing as Zimbabweans, who do not need international protection, make asylum claims confident that even when claims are refused they will not be returned. "We need to stop this abuse while continuing to offer protection to genuine refugees, including political refugees. "This change in asylum policy does not reflect any change in our opposition to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. "We will continue to push the government of Zimbabwe to end human right abuses, and restore democracy." The spokeswoman said she could not comment about individual cases. By Charles Heslett - Leeds Today - Yorkshire Evening Post |