Reza Yosefi

Great news- Reza has been released!

 

We have some great news! Reza was released on bail and arrived back in Sheffield yesterday evening! He was greeted just like a celebrity in the Sheffield train station and he was beaming from ear to ear with happiness! We are all very glad he is back home and that he is safe for now!

Reza’s bail conditions will be revised in three weeks time, when he will hopefully be given temporary release whilst the home office take their time deciding on the revision of his claim. There are a number of legal avenues we can take if the home office refuse his case, we can ask for an oral hearing where the judge will be the one who makes the decision and we can also appeal to the court, so there are still many hopeful steps to take and Reza’s lawyer feels confident that he has a very good argument to stay in the UK, which is why the High Court judge gave an injunction in the first place.

I have attached a new email/ letter (New Letter for Theresa May) you can send to the home secretary (please personalise if possible) and I have also attached a new petition you can print off and ask people to sign. (New Petition March 26th)

Please continue to look and comment on the facebook page http://on.fb.me/i1N1FL as I will keep this updated with info.

Thank you again for all of your support, whilst it doesn’t feel like much we know that the letters and signatures make a difference to the final decisions.

Thanks from a very relieved Reza and his campaign team xx

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Reza’s fight to stay is not over yet!

Unfortunately, the Home Office are taking their time deciding about whether to release Reza or not; so his lawyer is lodging an application for bail tomorrow.

Hopefully Reza will be with us by early next week at the latest! We’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, please continue to ask people to sign the online petition http://bit.ly/ie8vUc and email/mail the Home Secretary with this new plea (New Model letter for Theresa May).

There is also a paper petition (Reza Petition March 2011) which you can download, print off and ask people to sign. Please send these to the address at the bottom of the petition.

Please also continue to visit and write comments on the facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/pages/SAVE-REZA-Afghanistan-is-not-his-home-he-belongs-to-Sheffield/150063148373600

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Great news!

A High Court Injunction was granted today preventing Reza from being deported to Afghanistan. The UKBA has to look at his claim again, so hopefully they’ll see some sense and grant Reza leave to remain.

Thank you so much to everyone for your support!! See Look North, Calendar & Radio Sheffield for coverage.

We’ll post more info about his release and more details about the injunction tomorrow 🙂

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Update on the Judicial Review of Reza’s case:

We have some good news and some bad news; the good news is that the High Court did not refuse Reza’s case, however the bad news is that we still don’t have a decision. The judge decided he wanted to have an ‘oral argument’ to make a decision on Reza’s claim. This means there will be a review of the case where Reza’s barrister will defend the case to the High Court Judge tomorrow (Tues 15th) in the Leeds Courts at 2pm.

This will be a public hearing, so anyone is welcome to go and listen to the hearing, here is the information Reza’s lawyer sent me.

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT  IN LEEDS

Court 17

Before HIS HONOUR JUDGE BEHRENS

Tuesday 15 March 2011

At 2 o’clock

FOR INTERLOCUTORY HEARING

CO/2314/2011 The Queen on the Application of Yosefi v Secretary of State for the Home Department

We still haven’t heard from the ECHR, so there is a chance they will pass a Rule 39 tomorrow which will prevent the UKBA from deporting Reza. Let’s hope they do!

We will definitely be holding a demonstration tomorrow (Tues 15th) outside Sheffield Town Hall at 12pm. So PLEASE join us for as long as you can. This is OUR LAST CHANCE to try and influence the politicians and the UKBA to stop Reza’s deportation, so we need as many people there as possible. Please bring banners, petitions and pictures of Reza like you did last time.

I hope to see you all there tomorrow and I hope we can celebrate a positive decision from the High Courts after 2pm!

P.S. Please also send emails/letters to the home secretary asking for their mercy for Reza one more time. (link to model letter)

Thanks to everyone on behalf of Reza.

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Update on Reza’s situation- Only 2 days left!

We are now waiting for the High Court to make a decision about whether they will pass an injunction to stop Reza’s removal. We have also sent a fax to the ECHR to ask them to reinstate a Rule 39 which will prevent the UK government from deporting Reza. So I will be in touch when we hear about the decisions.

There has been a fair amount of press coverage about Reza’s situation. BBC Look North, Calendar News, BBC Sheffield Radio, The Star and The Mirror have all covered something about Reza over the past week. Here is an example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-12634999.

We held a demonstration on Wednesday 9th March, the demo went really well, there were over 60 people and we collected over 150 signatures which have been sent to the Home Secretary Theresa May, the Immigration Minister Damian Green and MP David Blunkett (who has promised to support Reza and try stop his deportation). There was coverage on calendar News and there will be an article in today’s (11th March) Star newspaper. You can also see a short film of the demo at http://www.vimeo.com/20868156.

Thanks to everyone who came down. Please sign the online petition http://bit.ly/ie8vUc and continue emailing/mailing the Home Secretary (Reza Model Letter) if you haven’t already.

There is also a paper petition(Reza Petition March 2011) which you can download, print off and ask people to sign. Please send these to the address at the bottom of the petition.

The Home Office have confirmed that they have received Reza’s fresh claim, so Reza’s solicitor will continue chasing them so that we receive a decision as soon as possible. David Blunkett’s office are also chasing the Home Office about Reza’s case, they will receive the 150 signatures today, so this should help them in their fight for Reza not to be deported.

Please continue to visit and write comments on the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/pages/SAVE-REZA-Afghanistan-is-not-his-home-he-belongs-to-Sheffield/150063148373600

A poem written by Reza whilst in Colnbrook detention centre

I am going to nowhere land
They’re deporting me from England
I was looking for my home land
…What a destiny that I am banned
I wanna go back to my home town
Sheffield is my home land
They say Afghanistan is your land
UKBA took me to Colnbrook
They’re sending me to nowhere land.

Reza Yosefi, March 2011

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Reza was detained once again today (3/3/11)

We have some worrying news. Reza was arrested around 11am when he went to sign on this morning (3^rd March 2011). He is currently being taken to Colnbrook detention centre in London, where he will stay until the UKBA try to deport him to Afghanistan on 16^th March on flight no. PVT 800.

Reza and his lawyer, Chris Cole, have been working hard since Reza’s release in November to put together a fresh asylum claim based on article 8. This claim will prove that Reza has established a private life in Sheffield and that he has friends and supporters here. Chris has been trying to finish the claim today, so that it can be sent tomorrow and hopefully help to stop Reza from being deported.

We have been in contact with David Blunkett’s office; who has contacted the immigration office to find out why they have arrested Reza. The office said Blunkett will support Reza and try to stop Reza’s removal to Afghanistan.

Please help us to save Reza by sending letters and emails to the UKBA and Home Secretary asking them to stop Reza’s removal from the UK. A template is below.

Thank you for your support,

The Save Reza team.

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We have some great news!

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Great news!

Reza has just confirmed they have kept him in the detention centre and have not deported him to Afghanistan. He is safe for now, very happy and incredibly thankful.

Thank you for all your support. You have helped us to make this very significant step in Reza’s campaign through all your emails and spreading the word.

Here’s how it all happened on Monday 22nd November 2010:

Apart from the media attention, we were also able to contact David Blunkett’s office. They contacted the Home Office and UKBA and were working on Reza’s case from 3pm.

Reza received a letter from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) around 7pm saying that the UK government had been informed that they should not remove Reza to Afghanistan until further notice. The Chief Exec of UKBA confirmed he had received this order from ECHR. It was then down to Reza to find the right person to show the letter to. At 8.30pm we found out that Reza had been locked in his room along with the other inmates in preparation to go to the airport. We were all very worried that he would not be able to show the letter to the right person by this stage. They took his room mate, but left him waiting, and then at around 11pm they told him they were not going to deport him and that he was safe. We were all very relieved and happy for Reza!