NOTICE TO ALL PASSENGERS ON BA2053

YOUR PLANE HAS BEEN SCHEDULED TO CARRY A FORCED DEPORTEE - AN OFFICER OF THE MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE, WHO CAN FACE DEATH ON ARRIVAL.

Laurence N is an MDC Youth Chairman who was abducted, tortured and threatened with death in Zimbabwe. Along with other MDC organisers, he has been refused asylum in Britain. He has been told he will be rushed to this BA plane in handcuffs and kept under guard until he is handed over to the authorities at Harare.

Please save Laurence N from deportation.

What you can do

STAND UP IN YOUR SEAT - STAND UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.

The plane cannot depart until all passengers are seated with their safety belts fastened. Please remain standing until the deportee is removed from the aircraft.

ASK TO SPEAK TO THE CABIN CREW. Many cabin crew unions and associations (such as United Airlines’ A. F. A) already have written agreements not to carry any passenger against their will. Others are discussing this vital issue. It was a BA chief hostess who ensured that a badly beaten Zimbabwean refugee was not deported on Christmas Eve.

TRY TO SEE THE CAPTAIN. It is the captain’s duty to make sure that the flight leaves on time and for it’s proper purpose. The Captain has the power to order guards and deportees off the plane if their struggle is delaying the flight. The BA pilots’ association, BALPA, is discussing ethical policy on carrying deportees and refugees.

TRY TO SEE LAURENCE HIMSELF. Express your support, ask the guards to act non-violently, act as a witness. Ensure that Laurence has really been taken off.

Further info, contact: 07950 772418

HEROES OF DEMOCRACY

Laurence N (a trained accountant) was MDC Youth Chairman for a Harare constituency until earlier this year. His success in organising for democracy led to threats and attacks from Zanu PF. In February 2001 he was abducted, interrogated under torture, and told to give up politics if he wanted to stay alive. He fled to Britain in July 2001 with his full MDC papers.

This month President Mugabe has declared “war” on the MDC. Instead of granting Laurence asylum, the British government is trying to send him and other MDC members back to Zimbabwe.

Laurence has had to resist deportation physically three times, on Air Zimbabwe flights. The Zimbabwean cabin crew understood that “Returning would be like going to the guillotine” for Laurence, and asked for him to be taken off the plane.

Tonight he is being taken under armed escort to this British Airways flight. Since Christmas Eve, private security guards have been taking Zimbabwean deportees in unmarked cars, keeping them separate from passengers who could hear their appeals for help, and rushing them through a small crew entrance minutes before departure. Deportees have also been assaulted.

Since the deportations began, we have had messages from relatives of deportees in Zimbabwe. Some of the returnees have “disappeared”, others escaped with their bare lives after horrific beatings. Family members and friends have been hospitalised, or fled into exile to countries more accepting than Britain.

That’s why we are asking for your help NOW.

HERE ARE SOME MORE THINGS THAT EVERYONE CAN DO:

Fax Lord “Jeff” Rooker, Immigration Minister at the Home Office: 0207 273 2043. His office is pushing through deportations to Zimbabwe at high speed throughout the Christmas and New Year holiday. Note that the House of Lords debate about Zimbabwe on 12th December called repeatedly for MDC members to be given asylum.

Fax BA Chairman Lord Colin Marshall: 0208 738 9801, and BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington: 720 8759 5597. Tell them you don’t want the national airline doing this dirty work.