4th March 2003

Sad news: Elvis Leka was picked up when he signed on and is now being held at Hardmonsworth Detention Centre for deportation: . he feels alone and we should phone him 0208 283 3850 if we can before Thursday 6th March. We are collecting money to donate to him. Send chequest to Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign and mark the money clearly for the Elvis Leka fund. More on Elvis

November 2002

PLEASE SUPPORT ELVIS LEKA when he signs on montly. Elvis may be detatained for deportation so please bring money and phone cards. After this join us at the soup kitchen.

A group of friends and supporters, the press and local TV accompanied Elvis when he had to sign on at Portishead Immigration Office on 22 November. I don't know how many readers have ever been to this obscurely positioned office, but it is a feat to even find the place, and it is not signposted either. It is indeed an achievement for a local to find it.

The sight of TV and press cameras and our banners really put the wind up the officials at the Immigration Office, and it was a while before they even opened the door. On 4 December Elvis had to sign on at Bridewell Police Station and he was again accompanied by press and supporters.

The on-going stress on Elvis is clear. He is not alone. Some people have waited for up to 7 years for a decision or an appeal.

Dear Friends.

Elvis Leka (see earlier message below) has run out of options despite the efforts of his MP Jean Corston, his employers, his solicitor
Mary Shepherd, and members of our campaign. We have been supporting him every month when he signs on.

If they decide to detain him we will not be able to prevent them; but if they do, it will be in the fullest glare of publicity, and in
full knowledge of the nature of their actions. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO COME TO THIS, THE GREATER WILL BE THE MEDIA COVERAGE, AND THE GREATER WILL BE THE SHAME OF THE 'PUBLIC SERVANTS' WHO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE IMPLICATED IN THIS GOVERNMENT'S DIRTY WORK.

If you work in central Bristol, can you arrange your lunch-hour so that you can support Elvis? Ask colleagues to come too. If you can
come, please bring some cash and/or other small item to hand to Elvis if they take him away. I understand that he uses a pay-as-you-go
Vodaphone mobile - so topup cards for that might be very welcome. Once detained, any contact with his solicitor and supporters will
become very expensive and very difficult.

Best wishes, Bob Hughes.

PS Please do not forget that we shall be demonstrating on Saturday in
Fishponds, outside the old main post office, from 1.30 till 2.30pm,
against the recent attack by racist louts on an asylum seekers'
hostel in that area. Campaigners from other parts of the country say
they have achieved real success against local racists by taking rapid
public action in this way.

===============================

Background info: message of 21st May 2002:

>
>Elvis Leka, a young asylum seeker from Kosovo, needs your support
>urgently -- see petition message below.
>
>He arrived here in Bristol in August 1999, aged 19, and is now
>working at Grove House hostel for the homeless in Fishponds (asylum
>seekers may be granted permission to work, once they have been here
>6 months). Elvis has become a major asset to the hostel. He is
>immensely hard working, has revealed a natural talent for care work,
>and the staff and residents of Grove House would hate to lose him.
>
>Elvis dreads going back to Kosovo, where he witnessed extreme,
>sustained and well-documented violence. Close family members were
>tortured and murdered, his home was burned down, and his village
>destroyed. After he fled, the rest of his family disappeared and the
>Red Cross have not been able to trace them. He has nothing and
>no-one to return to, other than traumatic memories. Yet his
>application for asylum failed. His appeal has been heard, but it
>could easily fail too (Kosovo is officially 'safe'). Unless his
>supporters apply for judicial review he could be sent back to Kosovo
>very soon.
>
>We understand that an application for a work permit _might_ enable
>him to remain in the U.K. It is very much a last-ditch attempt but
>his new community really does not want to lose him -- and even
>last-ditch efforts can succeed, if vociferous enough.
>===============================

Since the above, Elvis has been refused a work permit, even though
his employers insist that he is the only person they want to do the
job that he is doing.