CAMPAIGNERS HAVE delivered a 113,000-strong petition to the Home Office in a bid to stop the deportation of Osime Brown, a vulnerable autistic man.
Autism rights campaigner and mother-of-six Emma Dalmayne, who started the petition seven months ago and is working with Brown’s mother on the case, led the group to deliver the petition that tens of thousands signed via change.org today.
Brown was just four years old when he came to the UK from Jamaica, a country he has not visited since and now faces being deported to. He has been serving a five-year prison sentence for a phone theft, after he was convicted of the crime under the controversial Joint Enterprise Law. His family say he is innocent and has suffered mental breakdowns and self-harmed in prison.
“Deporting Osime would be a grave injustice”
Autism rights campaigner and petition organiser Emma Dalmayne
The 21-year-old who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome was due to be released from prison and taken to a deportation centre this Wednesday, but following public pressure he will now return to his family home and await deportation. A court hearing is set to take place in the coming weeks.
Dalmayne said: “Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people who have backed this campaign, Osime Brown will return to his family home on his release from prison this week. This shows that the campaign to gain his complete freedom is winning – but it certainly isn’t over as Osime’s deportation is still imminent.
“Deporting Osime would be a grave injustice. He has been repeatedly failed by the social care and education system and as a mother to autistic children, I know that this could be my son in his position. Over 100,000 people have now signed my change.org petition – public pressure is growing and we’re urging the Home Office stop his deportation fully and save his life.”
Beyond the public’s support of the petition, Brown’s story has attracted the attention of the Jamaica High Commission and the campaign to stop his deportation has been backed by MPs including Labour’s Nadia Whittome and John McDonnell and Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
Whittome has called on the justice secretary to review the issue of neurodivergent individuals facing imminent deportation, and protested against Brown’s deportation.
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Stop prosecuting the diagnosis.
How is it that we have such a heartless government? Have they no shame? What might make Britain great? Acting with intelligent compassion and civilised common sense, qualities that are apparently wholly lacking among our governing politicians.
How long must we tolerate this wicked Home Office regime? We have seen a succession of Home Secretaries who wilfully resist attempts to bring a shred of decency and humanity to this government department. The present incumbent is possibly the worst of a very bad bunch. People are literally crying out for justice and, apart from a few cases where the Home Office is thwarted in its attempts to deport individuals, the list of tragic deportations grows.