Andy Newman alerts us to this important case:
A community campaign to prevent a primary school child from Manchester from being deported to Iran is reaching a critical and potentially final stage.
Farah Ghaemi and her 3 children, including 10 year old Mehrshad (Child M), are facing deportation to Iran.
Gerald Kaufman MP said last week:
“This woman will undoubtedly be exposed to the possibility of being flogged, tortured, imprisoned or stoned. This is an extremely cruel and dangerous regime. To send a family that includes a vulnerable woman to a place with Iran’s current and past record strikes me as intolerable.”
Farah and her daughter (23) face charges of copying and distributing Salman Rushdie’s book, The Satanic Verses.
Last week lawyers secured a last minute injunction preventing their removal on Tuesday 14th September. A judge at Manchester High Court agreed to a hearing which will take place on Wednesday. Child M’s supporters are organising a lobby of the court as a show of support for the familly.
Public Hearing, Manchester High Court of Justice, 22.9.10, 2pm
The court hearing on Wednesday is critical. Friends and supporters plan to attend the hearing to demonstrate their solidarity with Farah and her family.
A ‘gathering of friends’ outside Manchester Town Hall, 22.9.10, 5pm
The campaign are also asking for a ‘gathering of friends’ outside Manchester Town Hall from 5pm on Wednesday. The message to the Immigration Minister, Damian Green from the campaign is clear: This family must be given the right to live safely in the UK.
The campaign to save this family has received huge support from the community here in Manchester and further afield:
• Over 5000 signatures have been collected from the local community asking that this family can stay.
• Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP called on Damian Green to reconsider
• Manchester Lib Dem leader Simon Ashley has called for the deportation to be halted
