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Married couple told to leave UK and return to Cameroon

From NCADC - Lydia Besong is a writer. Her debut play "How I Became an Asylum Seeker" is being staged by Community Arts Northwest (CAN) at the Zion Theater in Hulme, Manchester on 3rd December. She is also on the Management Committee of WAST (Woman Asylum Seekers Together).

Bernard Batey, her husband, has been leading for the national award-winning Human Rights organisation RAPAR in a partnership with Revive, Changemakers, Boaz Trust and Citizens for Sanctuary. Together, they have opened Manchester's first voucher exchange network.

On Thursday night, 29th October 2009, this married couple got back to their home in Rochdale after a busy day to find a letter from the Border and Immigration Agency telling them that they must go back to Cameroon, the country they fled from late at night on December 17th 2006.

Both Lydia and Bernard were tortured in Cameroon and, as well as being tortured in gaol, Lydia was raped by one of the guards. This happened because Lydia and Bernard were members of SCNC [Southern Cameroon National Council]. SCNC is an organization that is fighting for the freedom and liberation of southern Cameroon [English Speaking Cameroon].

Lydia and Bernard's MP, Paul Rowen, says: "I believe Bernard and Lydia have a genuine case for political asylum and I don't say that about every case I see."

For more details see the full NCADC story.

18 November 2009