Cameroonian journalist Charles Atangana has been granted bail in the UK for six weeks. Atangana, who is seeking asylum in the UK, will now be able to prepare his application for permission to seek a judicial review with closer support from his friends and trade union colleagues. UK's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is trying to stop Glasgow-based Atangana from being deported to Cameroon where he is likely to face detention, torture or worse.
NUJ General Secretary, Jeremy Dear said, "Though this is just one step in the campaign to prevent Charles' deportation back into the hands of the regime that has already imprisoned and tortured him for his brave reporting of corruption at the heart of the Cameroonian regime, it is nonetheless a tremendous victory for all the trade unionists, campaign groups, politicians and individuals who have lent their support to the campaign so far. Our thanks go out to them.
"The campaign to stop his detention will now intensify - but now with Charles himself at the forefront of the campaign."
NUJ President, Pete Murray said, "This is incredible news and I'm sure I speak for all Charles' friends in Glasgow when I say that we can't wait to see him again. Winning bail for Charles gives us a 6-week window in which to bring the full might of the labour movement to bear to finally remove the threat of deportation now hanging over him."
NUJ lodged papers in the High Court in London on Friday July 30 to renew the leave to apply for judicial review proceedings. UK authorities have said that they want to expedite that hearing, as soon as a court would consider it.
Charles Atangana is a well-respected journalist, specialising in economics and current affairs. He claimed asylum in the UK in 2004 and has lived in Scotland while his case was being processed. While in Glasgow, Atangana has played a significant role in the local community - as a volunteer with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Parkhead, as a member of the NUJ and an activist with the Maryhill Integration Network.
After waiting for almost 18 months for a decision, he received a refusal letter and was forcibly removed from Glasgow and moved to Colnwood detention centre near London. Atangana fled Cameroon after he was set upon by President Biya’s security forces, arrested, stripped naked, beaten up and detained for forty days.
