She needs you to take action NOW to stop this removal.

Sukai is seeking asylum in the UK after fleeing persecution in Gambia. As an employee of the Immigration Service, She was arrested after unknowingly delivering information about an attempted coup, which she was accused of being part of.

Sukai was put in prison without trial. She was regularly beaten, tortured, and raped. Other prisoners who have been linked to the alleged coup have been “disappeared” and not seen since. She was told in prison that she would die in there “sooner or later”.

The Gambian authorities have suggested that if she returns she will go back to prison. She will have to face the same torture and rape and there is clear risk that she too could be “disappeared”.

Although the UK Home Office are not convinced of her story, we have more evidence than ever that she will be at risk of persecution from the Gambian authorities if deported. The harmful treatment that she reported to local UK newspapers for her campaign has been picked up and published by a number of online Gambian newspapers.

Human Rights organisations have reported much evidence of the Gambian Government harming those nationals that report information that tarnishes their reputation. In particular, Amnesty International has found evidence of danger to Gambians featured in the Freedom Newspaper, a publication that has repeatedly reported Sukai’s story. Because of this, we believe that Sukai would be in danger for reporting mistreatment at the hands of the government.

Amnesty has repeatedly documented “human rights abuses and the culture of fear” in Gambia – a situation that appears to be worsening in recent months.

Amnesty’s report Climate of Fear Continues: Enforced disappearances, killings and torture in Gambia, reported that “unlawful killings are seen as quickly getting rid of coup plotters and other perceived enemies, especially people whom the President feels have turned against him. Torture is also regularly used in Gambia to force confessions and to punish detainees. Significant evidence has emerged in trials in recent years suggesting that people were tortured to extract confessions”

Just last week, Amnesty called for the release of two journalists, arrested for organising a peaceful protest against the executions of suspected opposition activists.

The Home Office however refuse to believe that she is at risk. They claim that the Freedom Newspaper is not of interest to the Gambian authorities despite presenting evidence that it is. Amnesty International report: “the internet based Freedom Newspaper had its website hacked into. A list of what were said to be “informers” was subsequently published in the pro-government paper…and many people on that list were arrested, questioned, detained…and some were subjected to torture while in detention” (‘Amnesty International Report 2009: Gambia’, 28/05/2009)

Sukai’s situaiton is desperate and now very urgent. We need to try and stop her flight, and then push for a review of her case, in light of the worsening human rights situation in Gambia.

What you can do: