● More than 100 leading writers, actors, and other high-profile figures join campaign against the 'disturbing' deportation of Osime Brown

● Brown is a vulnerable young disabled man convicted in controversial circumstances under joint enterprise rules who now faces removal from country he calls home

● Family speak of “unbearable trauma” at treatment of their son

Over 100 public figures in Britain have signed an open letter against the deportation of Osime Brown, which they say ‘would be a grotesque indictment of our justice system’. The letter calls for Osime’s deportation order to be rescinded and for a public inquiry into the case, as requested by Osime’s mother, Joan Martin.

Osime Brown is a 22-year-old autistic and learning disabled man who faces imminent deportation to Jamaica, a country that he left in early childhood and does not even remember.
In 2018, Osime Brown was convicted of involvement in the street theft of a mobile phone by a group of teenagers. Osime’s account is that he did not participate in the robbery and a witness gave evidence supporting his account. There is concern about the role played by the controversial joint enterprise law in the jury’s guilty verdict, as the judge gave the jury a direction on this when summing up the case. Also the court did not have proper evidence about his autism.

Although his conviction is set to be legally challenged, Osime (who was released from prison in October this year after completing his sentence) remains at risk of deportation, under a contentious system of “double punishment” which has been criticised by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.

‘There is no evidence that Osime Brown is a threat to anyone in the UK. By contrast, the danger that he faces is extreme’, the letter states. ‘This tragedy is unfolding in real time – on our watch – but it need not happen. Compassion and decency could still prevail.’
Osime’s family have spoken of their terror that Osime, who is autistic and developmentally younger than his peers, would not be able to survive on his own in Jamaica, where he has no family or support.

Prominent signatories to the letter include former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, 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. They join over three hundred thousand people who have signed a petition against the deportation of Osime, who has lived in the UK since he was four.

Other signatories to the open letter include Labour peer Lord Dubs, veteran human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Guardian journalists Rachel Shabi and Zoe Williams, trade union leaders Manuel Cortes (TSSA), Jo Grady (UCU), Ian Hodson (BFAWU) and Michelle Rogers (RMT), and the Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Satbir Singh.

The letter has also been signed by a cross-party selection of MPs including Labour’s former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, Layla Moran of the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, and Jamie Stone of the SNP. Stone is also the primary sponsor of an Early Day Motion about Osime’s case, which has 56 signatures.

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.”

In a recent statement, Osime’s mother, Joan Martin, said:
“The trauma is unbearable. I am angry, I am broken, and this has left me with anxiety and depression. It has destroyed my whole family … My baby boy is dying.”

Emma Jones from the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, the organisation which organised the letter, said: “Stopping this deportation is an urgent moral imperative. It is important to note also that the treatment of Osime and others like him is both completely obscene and increasingly routine. The Hostile Environment relies on public ignorance and indifference to continue to function, which is why it’s so crucial for those with a platform to speak out now. Once people realise what is happening – and the sheer level of cruelty involved – they start to object. We’re profoundly grateful to everyone who has signed this letter.”
ENDS

NOTES

1. For press enquiries, contact: info@labourfreemovement.org or 07733286175.

2. The letter can be viewed in full here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RDsYdWVfuakPshjVw1fGc4h61yY9ia4AhQyiUgRuGPs/ It was organised by the Labour Campaign for Free Movement.

3. The list of signatories can be viewed in full here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KPXS6eThsMgKkRUssHmIoAuOiI-lZGeooRB26SnMP4Y/edit#gid=20355105

4. For updates on Osime’s campaign, follow: https://twitter.com/freeosimebrown And visit: https://linktr.ee/Justiceforosimebrown

5. A petition in support of Osime can be viewed here: https://www.change.org/p/home-office-stop-the-deportation-of-vulnerable-autistic-man-osime-brown-stopthedeportation-robertbuckland-ukhomeoffice

6. For the EDM on Osime’s case, which has 56 signatories from MPs, see here: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/57531/justice-for-osime-brown

7. For more information on the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, which initiated the letter, see here: https://www.labourfreemovement.org/

8. The statement from Osime’s mother is taken from this report: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/29/osime-brown-deportation-uk-racist-justice-system-autistic-black-jamaica