Incident at Yarl’s Wood – full statement

On 23rd December, at around 11am, Emily was at the checking out desk in Yarl’s Wood. She had not been feeling well over the weekend, and, at the desk she was squatting on the floor. She was told to sit on a chair – they did not touch her at this stage, no one helped her to sit on the chair. As she was sitting on the chair, her head and body were leaning on the counter because she was so unwell.
Before she sat down, the female nurse took her blood pressure, and told the escort personnel that Emily was fine. At this stage, while sitting on the chair, she had her eyes closed and felt the male member of staff from Yarl’s Wood, who was behind her, pushing her back and he tilted/lifted the chair and pushed her on her back and she rolled onto the floor. She hit her head on the floor quite hard. She had a lump on her head, and now has a ‘not too obvious’ brownish, reddish bruise on her forehead. They thought she was unconscious for a minute, until she scratched her head and then the female escort remarked that she was not unconscious as she saw Emily do this.
While she was on the floor the staff made comments, joking around and making fun, like: ‘Look at her, she’ll be fine as soon as we walk away’ and ‘She’s pulling an act, pretending to be sick’, and then they turned their backs and pretended to walk away to see what would happen – all while Emily was still on the floor. The male said, ‘ ok, you’re safe now, you can get up’, while she was still on the floor, and then the female nurse helped her up to sit back on the chair. Then the female escort said she would not take Emily as she ‘ did not want her to pass out on the way’.
The female nurse then told Emily that she was not being taken today and that she was to go back to her room. They waited for the male staff member from Emily’s unit to come and collect her. Emily asked him if she could hold onto him to walk – but he would not let her, so she held onto the wall and carefully and slowly walked back to her room.
Emily thinks that this may have been because he was a male (not allowing her to hold his arm).

She rested in her room. No doctor saw her regarding this incident.

At 3-4am last night Emily became very ill and rang the emergency bell – her head and stomach were hurting and she threw up. No one has checked her for concussion.

She has since had 3 vials of blood taken for tests, but still no one has examined her to see if she is suffering from concussion.

Emily didn’t fly! – but is still very ill, and has suffered greatly.

Thanks to everyone who supported the campaign so far and the phone blockade today.

Emily didn’t fly and is still in Yarl’s Wood! But she was taken ill this morning and is still in a serious condition.

Her removal directions for today were cancelled, but she does not necessarily have another 72hrs notice, she can have them for anytime now – unless she remains unfit to fly. The staff at Yarl’s Wood are trying to say she is fit to fly. This could be just a short reprieve before she is set to be deported again on a different plane.

Emily had reported over the weekend that she was having bad stomach pains, which led to blood in her urine and turns out she has a kidney stone. This morning they came to remove her at around 7.30am – she called us at 7.45am to say she had been told to pack up. When she went downstairs the nurse took her blood pressure. It seems that Emily was treated quite badly and may have been pushed off her seat and bad things said to her/about her. Anyway she collapsed and was declared unfit to fly. On her medical report it said ‘possible epileptic’ and Emily wanted the kidney stone to be added. The nurse said it would be added when they got to the airport, but Emily insisted on it being added there and then – and in any case, did not even leave for the airport today.

She was returned to her room and handed back her phone.

There is not likely to be a JR/injunction at the moment and her solicitor is doing all he can to stop her from going.

Please keep up the pressure on Jessica Morden MP, Theresa May and Mark Harper MP.

Emily taken to the Airport!

Emily has just been taken from Yarl’s Wood.

Please see ‘Campaign’ page for the latest campaign info and call-out.

Thanks.

Emily unwell

Our friend Emily Y. has been feeling unwell with bad stomach pains over the last day or so and has been given some painkillers which have not done a lot of good. Today she has seen a doctor as she has had blood in her urine and is feeling generally unwell.

Please, a last push for letters to the airline and hope for a last minute reprieve.

Removal Directions confirmed

We’re devastated to learn that M.Y. has been issued removal directions for EVA Airways flight BR068 from Heathrow at 9:20pm on Monday 23rd December.

We’re asking people to contact the airline to help stop her being on that flight.

Please see ‘Campaign’ page for more information.

Thank you.

Directions for removal issued?

We’ve just spoken to M.Y. and it looks like she has ‘removal directions’ – issued by the Home Office when people are booked on to a flight – for an EVA flight on December 23rd.

EVA stands for ‘Evergreen Airways’ (!) and is an airline based in Taiwan.

We hope to know whether this is true or not tomorrow morning and, if true, contact the airline – its motto is “Sharing the world, flying together”… We hope to persuade the airline not to take M.Y. on any of its flights, and hope that M.Y.’s supporters can join us in any such new campaign.

We will publish an update in the morning with any news.

M.Y. Must Stay!

M.Y. is originally from Taiwan. She came to the UK seeking sanctuary after refusing to be an intelligence officer for the Taiwanese government as she became morally uncomfortable with the work she was asked to carry out. 

She has been detained by the UK Home Office, with the intention of forcibly removing her from the UK.

M.Y. was detained on Tuesday 10th December, “Human Rights Day”, and held at Newport Central Police Station. As 25 people, including many friends, came to show solidarity with her while she was in the Police Station, news came through that M.Y was being transferred to a detention centre. She is now in Yarl’s Wood.