Playwright Besong Released from Detention
Manchester-based Cameroonian playwright Lydia Besong has been released from detention while the Border Agency considers her fresh asylum claim. Lydia and her husband Bernard Batey are activists with the Southern Cameroons National Council, a political group advocating greater rights for the English-speaking minority in their country.
The couple arrived in the UK in 2006 however their initial asylum claims were turned down. Lydia was arrested and detained in December 2009, days after the debut performance of her play “How I Became an Asylum Seeker” by Community Arts Northwest at the Zion Centre in Hulme, Manchester on 3rd December.
She and Bernard were required to travel on separate buses to their local Border Agency reporting centre in Salford. Lydia arrived first, entered the building and was detained pending removal from the country. She was able to phone Bernard, who didn’t complete his journey.
The couple are now reunited following Lydia’s release from detention early in 2010, and have been given temporary accommodation in Liverpool. They hope to return to their former home in Rochdale, where they enjoyed strong local support from their community and the town’s MP Paul Rowen.
After receiving instructions via RAPAR late in 2009, Latitude’s solicitors pieced together a large body of evidence, including witness testimony from SCNC leaders in Cameroon. We submitted the case to the Home Office following Lydia’s arrest and detention in December.
We uncovered significant evidence of the risks facing Lydia and Bernard in Cameroon. As is often the case, we felt their situation had not been properly presented or prepared during the initial asylum claim. We hope now that their evidence will receive the careful consideration it deserves.
Latitude Law are specialist immigration and refugee lawyers. We have a proven track record with fresh claims for asylum and human rights protection. We give clear and realistic advice, and we prepare cases that can be defended in Judicial Review proceedings in the High Court.