On Wednesday 21st November TCAR held a demonstration outside
Tyne Tees Studios in Gateshead against ITV News censorship.
This was in
response to ITV’s refusal to report on the demonstration TCAR organised on 24th
October in solidarity with Raul Ally, a young Somali man facing deportation to
Tanzania (see full report of that protest below:
http://tcarblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/report-of-protest-outside-north-shields.html). ITV sent a reporter who filmed the protest on 24th October and interviewed Raul
extensively. Raul has recently been released from Morton Hall immigration
detention centre, where he witnessed mistreatment of asylum seekers. Raul and
his supporters in TCAR were happy that ITV wanted to report on this matter. We
expected to see the report on the evening news but it wasn’t aired. ITV didn't
explain why they didn't show the report until we contacted them. We found out
that ITV would no longer report the story because the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) had
told them that Raul was ‘not who he says he is’. Effectively they called
Raul a liar, just like they do to thousands of refugees. ITV made no attempt to
investigate the story further, simply following the government line. Britain is supposed
to have free press: ITV, do you really expect a government agency, who is
attempting to deport a young man to country he’s never even been to, to tell
the truth?
As well as claiming Raul is not who he says he is
and is not Somali UKBA continue to assert that Raul and his brother are not
even related, despite blood tests proving that they are in fact brothers.
Whether it is outright lies or incompetency it allows UKBA to undermine Raul’s
case and attempt to deport him more easily. This is not an isolated case. UKBA
incompetency has been highlighted very clearly recently with a report published
on 22nd November 2012 by Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration
John Vine. The report found that UKBA staff dealt with a backlog of immigration
cases so inefficiently that at one point 100,000 items of post were unopened.
More than 150 boxes of post, including letters from applicants, MPs and
lawyers, lay unopened. This means that accurate information and supporting
evidence is not used when deciding an individual’s asylum claim which will
cause severe delays and stress (and the illnesses associated with this), it
plays havoc with people’s lives and results in people being deported.
When Raul and TCAR
supporters got to the entrance of Tyne Tees Studios we were met by two police
officers who claimed they were there to facilitate our right to protest. We
asked to see an official to explain our demands, the security guard present initially
said there was no one available and that he would pass on the demands. However,
we persisted and were able to speak to the Programme Editor Julie Harinson.
When asked why ITV made no efforts to investigate UKBA’s claims she said that
the reporter had tried to contact Raul, but when Raul challenged her saying
that he had not been contacted she said the reporter ‘must have had a bad
signal at the time’. Some investigation! After discussing Raul’s case Julie Harinson made a commitment to
investigate the story with a view to airing it in the near future and has since
been back in touch with Raul, TCAR and Raul’s solicitor. Without the protest it
is clear ITV would have remained silent on the issue. It is important that we
keep up the pressure to ensure Raul’s story is broadcast.
End the media blackout on
immigration detention and deportations!
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