Please help reunite Jonathan with his Mother

 

Elizabeth Mukisa was a member of an organisation working for change in Uganda.  In 2001 she was kidnapped and suffered rape and other torture at the hands of government soldiers and fled to the UK.  After her brother died in 2003, her three children who had been living with him came to join her in the UK. 

 

Ms Mukisa claimed asylum but her case was turned down.  She then married but her husband died suddenly, leaving her with a young baby.  In May 2006, Ms Mukisa and her five children were sent back to Uganda in contravention of a High Court injunction granted at the last minute to stop their removal.  During the removal Ms Mukisa was handcuffed and forced onto the plane while her children were carried on with their hands and feet bound.  She was sexually and verbally abused by the guards, kept handcuffed and had her head forced between her knees.  She had to sit like that for three and a half hours unable to even console her baby who was crying hysterically or her other children who were also distraught. 

 

On arrival in Uganda, the whole family was destitute – without even the few possessions they had been able to pack as their luggage was not put on the plane.  Less than two months later, Ms Mukisa was kidnapped by government soldiers, detained and tortured.  She only managed to escape when the boot of the car she was bundled into was left unlocked and unguarded after it was involved in an accident.  A friend paid her fare to the UK but because she was fleeing from certain death, she was forced to leave her children with a friend.  She arrived back in the UK in July, still covered with raw scars from the torture she suffered.

 

Women Against Rape is helping Ms Mukisa with her new claim for asylum and hope that this time the persecution she suffered will be recognised and she will win the right to stay.  In November 2006  Ms Mukisa’s two-year old son who is a British citizen was able to join her in the UK.  Together with Black Women’s Rape Action Project, we are now urgently trying to raise £750 to bring Jonathan, Ms Mukisa’s youngest child who is only 17 months old, who was born here, to be reunited with his mother.  Please help by giving as generously as you can.    

 

Please make cheques payable to Women Against Rape (mark for Ms M on the back) and send to: Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230A Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AB.  

For more information contact us on 020 7482 2496.