Charles Atangana did what thousands of journalists do every day. He exposed corruption. In Cameroon, that’s a risky business. As a result of his articles, Charles was attacked by President Paul Biya’s security forces, arrested, stripped naked, beaten up and detained for 40 days. He was locked in a flooded cell and tortured to try to force him to reveal his sources. He refused.
Suffering from malnutrition, chronic diarrhoea and food poisoning, Charles persuaded his guards to take him to hospital. Hidden in his underwear was the remains of the money he had had on him at the time. He used it to bribe those he needed to – and escaped. On his release, he faced sickening death threats.
Vilified in the state-run media, censored by his own newspaper, facing ongoing threats to kill him, he fled to Britain – somewhere he believed freedom of speech would be protected. However, instead of freedom, Charles is locked up at Dover Immigration Removal Centre. He is still facing death threats. Now our Government plans to deport him back to Cameroon. The likelihood is that he will be tortured or killed.
Charles has his dignity, but little else. All his possessions will fit in the plastic bag he has asked us to bring him. He is denied the biscuits and cake we tried to take him. The food he has been given disagrees with him and he has been ill – unable to keep any food down. He knows that at any moment he could be told he is to be deported.
Charles is an active member of our union’s Glasgow branch, and we are doing everything we can to stop his deportation. A few days ago, he was to be bundled on to a Kenya Airways flight and deported. We have secured a stay of execution (perhaps literally) by applying for judicial review of the refusal of his asylum application.
Charles’ fate rests in the hands of the courts and the Home Secretary. Theresa May literally has his life in her hands.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has urged the Home Secretary to release him. He said: “Charles Atangana is a brave journalist and trade unionist who should not be sent back to face continuing persecution in Cameroon.”
If Theresa May needs to know what the reality of life in Cameroon is for people such as Charles, she could do worse than read Every Morning Just Like Coffee, the shocking report by The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. This says: “You can expect to be beaten and ill-treated and kept in foul conditions. Stripped naked, you will be housed in a dark, airless, overcrowded cell with no toilet. The guards may jokingly call your daily excursions from your cell for a beating or torture session ‘un petit café’.”
The United States-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists wrote to President Biya stating: “We believe that arbitrary arrests, criminal prosecutions, and even torture of journalists who raise critical questions about government affairs undermine not only your efforts to root out public corruption, but also confidence in the rule of law and democracy in Cameroon.”
In April 2010, Bibi Ngota, a journalist and the editor of the Cameroun Express, died in custody. Other journalists are currently held in prisons across Cameroon. They have been detained following investigations into allegations of corruption at an oil company.
Amnesty International’s 2010 annual report section on Cameroon states: “The government continued to muzzle critics of its policies, including journalists and human rights defenders.” The Federation of African Journalists calls the regime “one of the worst jailers of journalists in Africa”.
Charles’ life is at risk if he returns to Cameroon. He makes a valuable contribution to British society. Despite the fact that he is refused the right to work, he has been volunteering at the Citizens Advice Bureau. He is active in his community and has many colleagues and friends. He is an active trade unionist.
We want the Home Secretary to use her discretionary powers to release him and let him stay indefinitely in safety in this country.
It’s all very well claiming you believe in freedom of speech – sometimes you have to act to prove you do. Over to you, Theresa.
