Open letter against the deportation of Osime Brown – let’s keep up the pressure!

Posted: 12 December 2020

More than 100 public figures have signed an open letter against the deportation of Osime Brown, which as they rightly say, ‘would be a grotesque indictment of our justice system’.

Prominent signatories to the letter include former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Labour peer Lord Dubs, writer and director Stephen Poliakoff, authors Neil Gaiman, Mark Haddon, AL Kennedy and Ali Smith, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, historian Antonia Fraser, comedians Bridget Christie and Sara Pascoe, and actors Riz Ahmed, Felicity Jones, Adrian Lester and Eleanor Tomlinson.

The letter, organised by LCFM, can be read in full here. The current list of signatories is here. We have also included the complete list of signatories at the end of this post.

Stopping this deportation is an urgent moral imperative.  As Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director, and a signatory to the letter, said:

“Excessive deportation powers have long been unjustly and cruelly used. Osime is a young, black British man, having grown up in this country from a very young age. For the Home Office to seek his exile is a plain abuse of power. It is a grotesque injustice that children who grow up in this country continue to be excluded from their citizenship rights then threatened with banishment by the Home Office.”

The Hostile Environment relies on public ignorance and indifference to continue to function, which is why it is so crucial for those of us who can see what is happening to speak out loudly against cruelty and injustice.

So far, over three hundred thousand people have signed the petition against Osime’s deportation. This is an encouraging sign of public support for Osime and his family. But it mustn’t stop there.

We urgently need our supporters to do the following:

–         📣 Share today’s article far and wide: linked here

–         📝 Sign and continue to share the petition: bit.ly/osime-b

–         ❤️ Like/follow Osime’s campaign on social media: Facebook (here) and Twitter (here).

–         ✊ Submit a motion to your CLP/union branch/trades council (see example below).

–         🤳 Post a selfie with the graphic (here).

–         💸 Donate (if you can) to the campaign fund: bit.ly/osime-fund

Don’t Deport Osime Brown: Emergency Motion
“THIS ORGANISATION notes the case of Osime Brown, a young, autistic, learning-disabled man who was imprisoned as a teenager under ‘joint enterprise’ rules for a crime he did not commit. He now faces deportation to Jamaica, a country he left at the age of four and where he knows no-one. Osime has suffered racist abuse and become seriously ill while in prison. His family fear for his life if he is deported.

THIS ORGANISATION resolves to support Osime Brown’s campaign to overturn his conviction and his deportation order and send £X to the campaign fund.”

Together, we can resist the Hostile Environment, defend individuals at risk, and make migrant solidarity central to our movements.

Full list of signatories:

Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP
Riz Ahmed Actor
Kate Allen Director, Amnesty International UK
Adam Almeida Research Analyst, Runnymede Trust
Cllr Shaista Aziz
Paula Barker MP
Jessica Barnard Chair, Young Labour
Apsana Begum MP
Paul Bernal Associate Professor, UEA Law School
Ann Black Labour Party member
Vicky Blake University and College Union (UCU) president (personal capacity)
Grace Blakeley Staff writer, Tribune
Janine Booth Secretary, RMT Disabled Members Advisory Committee
Chair, Neurodivergent Labour
Anna Brazier
Jen Brister Stand up Comedian
Lorenza Casini
Marcus Chown
Bridget Christie
Jonathan Clark Bishop of Croydon
Nicky Clark Writer and campaigner
Cllr Ben Clay
Luke Cooper Academic
Manuel Cortes General Secretary TSSA
Angel Coulby Actor
The Baroness (Caroline) Cox Member of the House of Lords
Cllr Clare Cummins
Tom Dale
Emma Dalmayne CEO, Autistic Inclusive Meets
Nick Dearden
Cllr Aydin Dikerdem
Cllr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini Migrant Champion, Oxford City Council
Allan Dorans MP
Alf Dubs Member of the House of Lords
Oliver Eagleton New Left Review
Imade Edosomwan One Justice
Mark Essen
Andrew Fisher Claim the Future
Don Flynn Permanent People’s Tribunal on Migrant Rights
Antonia Fraser Writer
Micha Frazer-Carroll Journalist
Neil Gaiman Author
William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Activist and Freelance Journalist, York, United Kingdom
Priyamvada Gopal Professor, University of Cambridge
Jo Grady UCU General Secretary
Mark Haddon
Glen Hart RMT National Black & Ethnic Members’ Advisory, Chairperson
Ayesha Hasan
Owen Hatherley Tribune
William Hayes
Ray Hearn Artist manager
David Hendy Professor of Media and Cultural History, University of Sussex
Ian Hodson National President BFAWU
Jermain Jackman Singer / Activist
Simon Jermy
Catherine Johnson Writer
Kim Johnson MP
Felicity Jones Actor
Alba Kapoor Policy Officer, The Runnymede Trust
AL Kennedy Writer
Wajid Khan Former MEP and Mayor of Burnley
Steve Kirkwood Academic
Jude Kirton-Darling Former MEP for North East England
Cllr Mark Ladbrooke
Tom Lake
John Leach RMT London Transport Regional Organiser
Adrian Lester Actor
Anna Lindley Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
Cllr Joshua Lovell
Caroline Lucas MP
Sarah Ludford Member of the House of Lords
Bill MacKeith Oxford Against Immigration Detention
Peter Mancina
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
Researcher, Stockholm University; Visiting Scholar, Rutgers Law School; Research Associate, University of Oxford
Francesca Martinez Writer
Stuart McDonald MP
Rt Hon John McDonnell MP
Maurice Mcleod CEO, ROTA
Chris Meehan
John Moloney PCS Assistant General Secretary (in a personal capacity)
Janet Montefiore Professor Emerita
Layla Moran MP
Clive Lewis MP
Kate Osborne MP
Sara Pascoe Comedian
Esme Peach
Ewan Pearson
Alison Phipps Academic, University of Glasgow
Stephen Poliakoff Writer
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley
Lecturer in twentieth century British history, University of Southampton
Michelle Rogers RMT National President
Bella Sankey Director, Detention Action
Rachel Shabi Journalist
Neha Shah
Virendra Sharma MP
Nikesh Shukla Writer
Satbir Singh Chief Executive, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
Andy Slaughter MP
Ali Smith Writer
Daniel Sohege Director, Stand For All
Jamie Stone MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Paul Sweeney Former MP Glasgow North East
Peter Tatchell Director of Peter Tatchell Foundation
Alison Thewliss MP
Eleanor Tomlinson Actor
Baroness Dr Jenny Tonge Member of the House of Lords
Nick Treloar Research analyst, The Runnymede Trust
Julie Ward Expert at Britain in Europe thinktank Goldsmiths University Law Dept
Nadia Whittome MP
Rowan Williams Former Archbishop of Canterbury
Zoe Williams Journalist
Beth Winter MP
Mohammad Yasin MP
Benjamin Zephaniah Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing