Friends and family of Fatou Tamba are fighting desperately to stop her being sent to a country where they say she will be in danger
Friends and family of Fatou Tamba are fighting desperately to stop her being sent to a country where they say she will be in danger
There is sadness and anger today as a woman who has lived in the UK for 18 years – including the last eight in Liverpool – is set to be deported to a country where her family fear she will be in huge danger.
Fatou Tamba, a popular community figure in Liverpool, is set to be deported to her native country of The Gambia today, after she was detained by immigration officials last month. Her family and friends are making a final, desperate plea for the move not to go ahead, with the flight scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Ms Tamba, 55, was living off Smithdown Road before she was detained by immigration officials last month. She has spent the last few weeks at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in the North East ahead of a planned deportation flight today.
Her family, friends and lawyers are fighting to stop the flight today. If their efforts fail, Ms Tamba is set to leave the UK on a deportation flight operated by Royal Air Maroc, which will depart from London Heathrow to Casablanca at 6.10pm. She will then be put on a flight from Casablanca to The Gambia, arriving in the West African country’s capital – Banjul – at 1.30am local time.
On Monday, friends of Ms Tamba – who has a son and a partner in the UK – spent hours protesting against her deportation outside the immigration centre in Derwentside as lawyers working on her behalf fought to keep her in the country. Campaigners are also lobbying airline RoyalAir Maroc, urging the company to refuse to accept the deportation using its plane.
Ms Tamba first arrived in the UK from The Gambia, in West Africa as a visitor to her brother Lamine, who has British citizenship. But she did not feel she could return to the country as a change of ruling party had made life dangerous for her and her family.
She has lived in the UK for 18 years, with many of those years spent in Liverpool. She has become a prominent figure in the city’s refugee and asylum seeker community, working with different community groups to support women arriving in the region.
Having remained in the UK, she had asylum applications rejected but was recently trying again to achieve the right to stay in the country, on the basis that she has built a family life here with her son, partner and community. She has most recently been living in the Smithdown Road area before her detention.
Her brother Lamine, who has British citizenship, explained the dangers his family fear Fatou will face if sent back to The Gambia tonight. He told the ECHO: “Most of our family is associated with the former government in The Gambia and this has resulted in us being targeted. Members of our family have been detained for years without charges and our cousin was shot. Many have had to flee and we still receive death threats.
“Fatou is very worried about what could happen to her if she is sent back. She is very scared right now and in real mental distress. This will not be a safe place for her. People connected to the current [Gambian] government have made it clear that we will not return alive if we set foot in The Gambia. If she is sent back, she will be at risk of kidnapping, false imprisonment, or death.”
In an update on Monday, Lamine told the ECHO his sister was in “not in a good state mentally or physically.” He said he was “worried and disgusted” at her treatment.
The Home Office said its longstanding policy is not to comment on individual cases. A petition calling for the deportation plan to be stopped has been launched and can be found here.
