Nigerian woman killed by Belgian police in deportation attempt

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Semira Adamu was 20 years old

SEMIRA ADAMU died on Tuesday, September 22nd 1998 at about 9 p.m. at St. Luc Clinic in Brussels. She had been a coma for several hours following an attempt to deport her by force by the Belgian police acting under the orders of the Immigration Office ("Office des Etrangers"). She was 20 years old... She had fled from Nigeria because her family were trying to force her to marry a 65-year old polygamist. She would have been his fourth wife. She had repeatedly sought refuge in Togo but had been brought back to Nigeria each time. Then, on March 25th 1998, with the help of some friends, she arrived in Belgium. She was immediately refused access to Belgian soil. All she ever knew of Belgium was the airport and a detention centre for "illegal foreigners", situated at 127 bis de Steenokkerzeel. This was the sixth time that the Belgian authorities had tried to deport her. The reason for the refusal to allow her to enter Belgium is that (wait for it...) the Geneva Convention does not say anything specific about cases of ill-treatment of women ...

• Crime of State : Semira Adamu died tonight in Brussels (Alternative Libertaire, 22 September 1998, 11.46 p.m.)
• Questions concerning the death of Semira Adamu (Alternative Libertaire, 23 September 1998, 18h26)
• Appeal by the Sans-papiers of France (23 September 1998)
• Latest news:
  • September 26th, 1998

Crime of State: Semira Adamu died tonight in Brussels (September 22nd 1998, 11.46 p.m.)

Questions concerning the death of Semira Adamu (September 23rd, 1998, 6.26 p.m.)

• What happened between the time she was woken up at detention centre 127bis and the time she was placed on board the aircraft:
• Had she received blows, threats, etc. ?
• Had she (as is sometimes the case) been forced to swallow medication? Were the drugs concerned counter-indicated in her case?
• At the pilots' office: when Semira told us of the threats against her (Monday), we immediately sent a fax to the pilot of the flight for Lomé (Togo). This fax explained the violence that might occur on the flight and asked him not to allow Semira on board. What happened to our fax? Was it even transmitted to the pilot? Was it intercepted by a superior? If not, why was it not taken into consideration?

• What really happened inside the plane?
• Semira was in excellent health and was considered "morally strong" enough to withstand deportation. The prosecutor's office confirmed the use of a cushion, but what really happened in the plane?
• A cardiac arrest and a cerebral haemorrhage do not occur spontaneously in a 20-year old without a cause...
• As for the video filmed by the police, we must not be fooled. The cameraman was able to film what he wanted. The subjectivity of a videotape renders it unsatisfactory as evidence in our eyes.
• We also note the flagrant contradiction between the declaration of the deputy Crown  Prosecutor, who says in effect: "The normal procedure in the plane is to place a cushion over the mouth of the deportee (...) We do it all the time", and the repeated declarations of the chairman of the Sabena airline company, insisting that "I can assure you that our security staff scrupulously observes the rules of human rights (...) All forms of resistance must be condemned".
• Why did the pilot accept to take a person in handcuffs on board the plane, when aircraft safety regulations prohibit it?

Several disturbing facts occurred at the hospital.

• Why did the doctors insist that someone see her to testify that she had not been the victim of violence?
• A visual examination is not sufficient to identify the causes of cardiac arrest and internal haemorrhage.
• Why did the doctors at the press conference insist so emphatically on the normal nature of a cardiac arrest and internal haemorrhage for a person aged 20?
• Why did they not mention the handcuff marks on her wrists?
• Why are they so determined to convince us that her death is an accident when the results of the examinations are not yet known?
• Why are they so against an independent autopsy and counter-examination?

That is why we appeal for eye-witness accounts by passengers, a second medical opinion and an independent autopsy in order to discover what happened.

What we are faced with here is not an isolated blunder but a shameful daily practice, which, in the case of Semira, turns out to be an unpleasant consequence of the threats against her since her arrival in Belgium. We therefore demand a trial to judge the perpetrators of this "assassination", at all levels of responsibility. In our opinion, these responsibilities lie with the chief officer of those who physically carried out this policy of terror (the police), those who collaborated with it (Sabena airlines), and, in particular, those who decided it (the Minister of the Interior and the Immigration Office).

The tragic death of Semira banishes all doubt that anyone could still express regarding the inhumanity of the deportation policy.

Appeal by the Sans-Papiers of France (September 23rd 1998)

After rejecting her demand, the Belgian administration tried to deport her six times. Semira Adamo died today, a victim of this senseless and criminal ferocity. Her death is unacceptable. A young woman of 20 years old has been harassed, terrorised and pursued by the Belgian police until she died. 

What has just happened in Belgium could happen at any time in France, Germany or any other country of Fortress Europe, where repressive anti-immigrant laws are currently being harmonised and unspeakable methods are becoming common practice.  Men, women and children are being harassed, tracked down like beasts and deported against a background of almost universal indifference. Do we have to wait for deaths to reach double figures before we react? In France, the case of a Sri-Lankan who died in 1991 following an excessively forceful deportation is still under examination.

If we have arrived today at a situation where a foreign woman has been murdered under such conditions, it is because numerous exactions are committed every day by the police in police stations, detention centres, transit zones and even inside the aircraft. Under the pretext of enforcing firm immigration policy and securing Europe's external borders, all abuses of power are permitted by the police forces and administrations of the countries concerned.

We protest with all our strength against these policies, which can only generate and encourage these barbaric acts. We also denounce the airline companies that render themselves accomplices to these policies by accepting to transport "illegal" or merely paperless foreigners deported under these conditions. The closed border policy is incompatible with respect for human rights.

We must all react together before it is too late.

To register our indignation, we are organising a protest rally in front of the Belgian embassy in Paris,  9 rue de Tilsitt, 75017 Paris (Charles de Gaulle-Etoile Metro station).

Contact : Collectif des sans-papiers du Val de Marne.
Phone: (+33) 1498 03179 ; Fax : (+33) 1437 72512 ;
Mobiles: (+33) 6856 14105 and (+33) 6852 805 48.

September 26th 1998: Several demonstrations in memory of Semira Adamu have been held in Belgium and France

On Thursday, for example, more than 2000 people demonstrated in front of the Immigration Office in Brussels. Although Interior Minister Tobbak has now resigned, the protest movement is continuing, with the determination not to let the government and political parties treat one politician and a few policemen as scapegoats for a generalised policy, shared by "left" and "right".

Also on Thursday (24 Sept) the Belgian tourist office in Paris was occupied by about 30 people from the "Collective for Freedom of Movement", who left quietly after reading out a statement on Belgian TV and receiving an appointment with the Belgian ambassador. The statement insisted that Semira's death was not an isolated incident but the inevitable result of European policies on immigration. It called for the regularisation of all Sans-Papiers, and called on people to join the anti-deportation movement.

More than 5000 people attended a memorial service for Semira Adamu in St. Gudule cathedral in Brussels on Saturday (Sept 26). Politicians were barred from entry.

On Friday evening (Sept 25), fearing a violent demonstration at the detention centre where Semira was held before her death and where the inmates were on hunger strike, the Belgian police quite simply evacuated the centre. The Ministry of the Interior had visions of "demonstrators armed with knives and wire-cutters (...) with the firm intention of breaking everything and setting everyone free", and so has decided to release a large number themselves. The Anti-Deportation Collective is looking after the 45 released detainees, who officially now have 5 days to leave Belgium under their own steam. 25 other refugees "who have committed serious offences" have been taken to other detention centres, where they are continuing their hunger strike in solidarity with Semira.

Source:
http://active.park.be/expulsions

Regards
iain