News / International
Evenia Mawongera to report at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre (UK)
02 Aug 2013 at 04:54hrs | Views
Today (Friday, 2 August), Evenia Mawongera will be going to report at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre at 11am. Her friends from the Zimbabwe Association Choir together with her friends from the wider Leicester community will be going with her.
When they get to Loughborough, members of the Zimbabwe Association Choir will perform in the town centre for the people of Loughborough while others ask the people to sign the petition urging Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to let Evenia stay in Leicester with her friends, her children and her grandchildren.
Shortly before 11am, the group will move on to the reporting centre itself where they will stage another performance before Evenia goes in to report. A few minutes after Evenia has gone in, three of her friends will follow her and present a petition to the manager at the reporting centre for the manager to pass on to the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister. After presenting the petition, the three will join the rest of Evenia's friends outside the reporting centre where they will stay and perform until Evenia is released.
A number of journalists will be there covering the event.
After Evenia has been released, the group will return to the Town Hall Square in Leicester where they will resume urging more people to sign the petition. They will stay at the Town Hall Square for a couple of hours before dispersing to return there daily to collect more signatures so that they can present the signatures to the manager at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre when Evenia goes to report there again on August 9.
The cover letter accompanying and explaining the significance of this week's petition comes from Enniah Dube, chair of the Leicester branch of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe, who writes:
"This week we bring you more signatures from the people of Leicester, all of whom are asking Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to let Evenia stay in Leicester with her friends, her children and her grandchildren.
"The 493 signatures we bring to you, taken together with the 289 we brought to you last week and the 690 we brought to you the week before that, mean that 1,472 people from Leicester are all asking that Evenia be allowed to stay.
"You might also want to know that among the people who have signed the petition that we bring to you this week are Jon Ashworth, the Member of Parliament for Leicester South, and Richard Johnson, chair of the Leicester branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
"In addition to that, a further 951 people, from all over the country, have signed the online version of the petition. Taking all these figures together, means that 2,423 people are all asking that Evenia be allowed to stay.
"May we also remind you that Evenia's children and grandchildren are British citizens and that for the past 10 years, Evenia has been living in Leicester with them.
"Furthermore, as evidenced by the fact that she is now a finalist in the Good Neighbour Award 2013, Evenia is a highly regarded citizen of Leicester.
"She is a known critic of the Mugabe regime who has been actively calling on that government to respect human rights and the rule of law. She will face torture and her life will be in danger if she is returned to Zimbabwe.
"We would also like to draw your attention to the transcript of a radio programme that was aired on BBC Radio Leicester on July 22, 2013 in which myself, in my capacity as chair of the Leicester branch of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe and Jonathan Ure, in his capacity as secretary of Amnesty International Leicester, talked about the risks that Evenia is likely to face should she be returned to Zimbabwe. In the same programme, Evenia also talked about her fears and the risks she faces should she be returned to that country.
"We would appreciate it very much if you could forward the petition and the attached transcript to Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper.
"We sincerely hope that our petition will be considered favourably and that Evenia will be allowed to stay."
When they get to Loughborough, members of the Zimbabwe Association Choir will perform in the town centre for the people of Loughborough while others ask the people to sign the petition urging Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to let Evenia stay in Leicester with her friends, her children and her grandchildren.
Shortly before 11am, the group will move on to the reporting centre itself where they will stage another performance before Evenia goes in to report. A few minutes after Evenia has gone in, three of her friends will follow her and present a petition to the manager at the reporting centre for the manager to pass on to the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister. After presenting the petition, the three will join the rest of Evenia's friends outside the reporting centre where they will stay and perform until Evenia is released.
A number of journalists will be there covering the event.
After Evenia has been released, the group will return to the Town Hall Square in Leicester where they will resume urging more people to sign the petition. They will stay at the Town Hall Square for a couple of hours before dispersing to return there daily to collect more signatures so that they can present the signatures to the manager at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre when Evenia goes to report there again on August 9.
The cover letter accompanying and explaining the significance of this week's petition comes from Enniah Dube, chair of the Leicester branch of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe, who writes:
"This week we bring you more signatures from the people of Leicester, all of whom are asking Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to let Evenia stay in Leicester with her friends, her children and her grandchildren.
"The 493 signatures we bring to you, taken together with the 289 we brought to you last week and the 690 we brought to you the week before that, mean that 1,472 people from Leicester are all asking that Evenia be allowed to stay.
"In addition to that, a further 951 people, from all over the country, have signed the online version of the petition. Taking all these figures together, means that 2,423 people are all asking that Evenia be allowed to stay.
"May we also remind you that Evenia's children and grandchildren are British citizens and that for the past 10 years, Evenia has been living in Leicester with them.
"Furthermore, as evidenced by the fact that she is now a finalist in the Good Neighbour Award 2013, Evenia is a highly regarded citizen of Leicester.
"She is a known critic of the Mugabe regime who has been actively calling on that government to respect human rights and the rule of law. She will face torture and her life will be in danger if she is returned to Zimbabwe.
"We would also like to draw your attention to the transcript of a radio programme that was aired on BBC Radio Leicester on July 22, 2013 in which myself, in my capacity as chair of the Leicester branch of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe and Jonathan Ure, in his capacity as secretary of Amnesty International Leicester, talked about the risks that Evenia is likely to face should she be returned to Zimbabwe. In the same programme, Evenia also talked about her fears and the risks she faces should she be returned to that country.
"We would appreciate it very much if you could forward the petition and the attached transcript to Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper.
"We sincerely hope that our petition will be considered favourably and that Evenia will be allowed to stay."
Source - Ambrose Musiyiwa
