Hussain Alsamamara reprimanded for appearing on BBC
by Aisha Maniar
While there has been a good deal of focus on individuals subject to control orders, their human rights and general living conditions, very little focus has been put on the issue of national security deportations and those subject to it. The new Conservative government has over the past few weeks oft repeated its determination to continue the previous government’s foreign policy of seeking to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) – little more than diplomatic assurances – with regimes known to carry out torture, and then to return “terrorism suspects” to their country of origin. It has been argued many a time that such assurances are not worth the paper they are written on and if safety from torture could be ensured, assurances would not need to be sought in the first place.
Thus, unusually, on 16 June, the first day of ahearing to decide fate of several individuals under threat of deportation under the mask of MoU the case, national security deportations with assurances and the process at SIAC were the main story for the whole first half hour on Newsnight on BBC2. With a panel including former Home Office minister Tony McNulty, the former head of SIAC and the imam of Leyton Mosque in east London, the discussion was preceded by a film about life under immigration bail conditions for VV, the Jordanian appellant in the above case, who real name is Hussain Alsamamara, and his family. The moving film featured Mr. Alsamamara and his young daughter as he talked about life under strict bail conditions and the effects it has had on him and his young family. Mr. Alsamamara is a Jordanian asylum seeker who escaped persecution and torture in his own country only to find himself stuck in a web of secret evidence and perpetual detention without trial or charge for over 5 years. He was later interviewed live on the telephone during the programme by presenter Gavin Esler. A short excerpt of the film can be seen at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8743947.stm
Taking part in the film was a breach of Mr. Alsamamara’s bail conditions and as a result of appearing in a film broadcast publicly and speaking to the BBC, he was summoned to appear at SIAC on the morning of Friday 18 June for a bail hearing. It was feared that his bail may be revoked as a result, however after being reprimanded by the judge, none of the current terms of his bail were varied and he was allowed to return home to his family. In spite of the government’s insistence on keeping this form of house arrest and detention without trial in Britain today as secret as SIAC procedures, over a million people either tuned in to watch the programme or watched it on BBC iPlayer.
It is hoped that the film will later be made into a longer documentary by the makers, Fatrat Films. For more details on the upcoming documentary, please visit: http://www.noplacelikehomedocumentary.com/
The Newsnight story was also covered by The Guardian newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/16/terror-suspect-control-order-appeal
