STOP THE FORCED REMOVAL FROM THE UK OF JOURNALIST GHAZI GHAREEB ZORAB
– Flight at 17.05pm tomorrow, Saturday July 1st, from London Heathrow
The Home Office is still set to forcibly remove Iraqi Kurdish journalist Ghazi Ghareeb Zorab from the UK – despite a fresh claim for asylum submitted three days ago and interventions from MPs with the Immigration Minister.
Ghazi was detained at Dallas Court Home Office Reporting Centre in Salford on Monday, 26th June, and was transferred to Brook House immigration removal centre in London later the same day.
The fresh claim for asylum was submitted to the Home Office on Tuesday, June 27th, but there has been no written acknowledgement of receipt and the removal directions have not been cancelled.
Ghazi, 42, a member of the National Union of Journalists, was persecuted and threatened for his work in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The Kurdish regional government has a record of human rights breaches against journalists: they are well documented in reports by the International Federation of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organisations.
Manchester MP Afzal Khan has contacted Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick asking for tomorrow’s flight to be stopped so the fresh claim can be properly considered.
A call for the flight to be cancelled has also been made by the National Union of Journalists. Grahame Morris MP, who co-chairs the NUJ Parliamentary Group, has written to the Immigration Minister asking him to intervene. He says the UK government should not risk facilitating the persecution of Ghazi and should demonstrate its commitment to ensuring the safety and protection of journalists.
Ghazi is an active member of the NUJ’s Manchester and Salford Branch. He has helped raise awareness in the UK of how criticism of the ruling parties’ policies in Iraqi Kurdistan has led to journalists being threatened, arrested, imprisoned and tortured.
Last year, Ghazi spoke at a demonstration outside Chatham House in London protesting about the visit of Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi region of Kurdistan. Ghazi has also spoken in Manchester at a protest outside the Iraqi Consulate.
NUJ Branch members have written to their own MPs asking them to support Afzal Khan MP’s request for the flight to be stopped.
Ghazi is due to be forcibly removed from the UK at 17.05 tomorrow (July 1st) on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow to Jordan and then onto Iraqi Kurdistan.
For more information, please contact:
Kath Grant,
Secretary,
NUJ Manchester and Salford Branch
Kath.northernstories@gmail.com
07865 713474
Photo: Manchester Mill
(outside the Iraqi Consulate, Manchester, Ghazi is third from left at the front)
Video sources: Twitter
barzani chatham house 1.mp4
https://twitter.com/Ghazi_Opt/status/1516834883468996612
barzani chatham house 2.mp4
https://twitter.com/Ghazi_Opt/status/1525021120390365190
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