Jahongir Sidikov - good news

posted by k

Sometimes campaigning - even doing little things like e-mailing an MP or posting a blog entry - can make a difference.

I've just read on Craig Murray's blog that Jahongir Sidikov has been granted political asylum by the Home Office.

If you wrote a letter or e-mail on his behalf, or if you posted a blog entry or joined the Facebook group, I hope you too are celebrating tonight. And I hope that Jahongir is made to feel welcome in Britain.

Deportation scheduled for 28th November - save Jahongir Sidikov now!

posted by k

You need only type the name Jahongir Sidikov into a search engine to see how the campaign to save him has grown. European and North American blogs are picking up the story. Jahongir's picture has been widely seen.

If the campaign fails, and he is deported, this may make things even worse for him in Uzbekistan - and the Uzbek authorities know how to make things very bad indeed.

The date of Wednesday, 28th November has been given for Jahongir's deportation. Scroll through the information given on this blog if you want to know what to include in a fax or e-mail to your MP or a fax to the Home Office.

Remember to include Jahongir's case details:

Home Office ref. - S2185191

Port ref. - BGT/188094

DMS ref. - 67823
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Campaign to save Jahongir Sidikov grows

These are just some of the bloggers and others opposing Jahongir Sidikov's deportation.


Turbulent Cleric
Postman Patel
Beeston Quakers
kllrchrd
Obsolete
Kathz's Blog
Question That
Crimes and Corruption of the New World Order
My Whine in Silence
Signs of the Times
Politics in the Zeros
Bloggerheads
Chris Floyd telegrams
Indymedia UK
Rochdale online
Chris: Paul: Labour of Love

Jailhouse Lawyer
Geoff Coupe's Blog
Ten Percent
Travellerspoint
Surreptitious Evil
War in Iraq (Russian)
British Blogs
Essential News
John Angliss
Buy Tramadol
The Sideshow
quaker fencer
Ordovicius
neon bubble
Thorn Tree - lonely planet
Open Debate Political Forum IMHO
Muslim Uzbekistan
hJc
Crooks and Liars
Democrats @ 2008 Presidential Election
Art Blog
Liberal England
Areopagitica

Craig Murray's Blog

Jahongir Sidikov's case details are:

Home Office ref. - S2185191

Port ref. - BGT/188094

DMS ref. - 67823


Find out how to contact your British MP here.

Fax your objections to the Home Secretary, Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith at 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK).

The opening of the most recent U.S.A. Human Rights report on Uzbekistan is here. (There is also a link to the full report.)

"an appearance of solidity"

posted by k

We now have a Ministry of Justice and a Minister of Justice. The language alarms me; it's a little too close to Orwell's Ministry of Truth. But then, the Health Ministry deals with sickness and the Minister of Employment is concerned with unemployment (or "job seeking" as it is now known). Perhaps the Ministry of Defence will soon be called the Ministry of Peace. "Ministry of Attack" might be a more honest name.

It's hard to see what the effects of the new ministries will be. The new Home Office, with its concern for telephone taps, immigration and surveillance seems like the U.S. Department for Homeland Security.

The Ministry of Justice remains controversial. I hope that the objectives of the Office for Criminal Justice Reform don't mean quite what they say; increasing "the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice to 1.25 million" is ambiguous at least. Presumably they don't really want to increase the number of crimes on the statute book to quite so high a number, nor to ecnourage criminal acts. A ratio between crime and conviction might be a better aim.

Meanwhile the hasty change leaves people uncertain. David Pannick's article in yesterday's Times is measured and thought-provoking. The relationship between parliament and the judiciary requires thought and attention. If justice doesn't protect everyone equally, it has ceased to be justice. And the government's tendency to attack decisions of the courts suggests a disregard for both justice and parliamentary process. After all, the government proposes laws which parliament debates, amends and passes or rejects. The courts' role is to uphold the laws that parliament has made.

To attack the courts is to bypass parliament and undermine the law.