Freedom for John Oguchuckwu

John was freed after a public campaign to raise his bail money. In the past nine months He has been held at Dungavel immigration centre, Lanarkshire, Greenock Prison and the Colnbrook centre, Middlesex. Supporters, including film director Peter Mullan, were able to raise £2,300 to secure his release. The 27-year-old former trainee priest is fighting deportation from the UK. He was denied asylum, but has remained in the country since he launched a civil action to sue security officers who he claimed assaulted him while he was being deported at Heathrow Airport in December. Mr Oguchuckwu, whose hearing was held in Glasgow, was previously at the Dungavel centre for six months, but also spent several months in Greenock Prison after there were fears he may have attempted to commit suicide. Most recently, he had been in Colnbrook immigration centre in Middlesex. Following the hearing, Mr Oguchuckwu said he was "very happy" and "alright".

"What I wanted for nine months is freedom, I thank the Dungavel bail fund from the depths of my heart and all the people, everyone, who helped me and ask God to bless them. For nine months I was in a place of steel and locked doors and my heart was becoming so sad and low. Today I am free and my heart feels God's light. Thank you for having faith in me. Thank you for remembering me and my brothers and sisters when I didn’t have anyone to speak out for me. Thank you for answering my heart’s silent prayers."

Peter Mullan hit out at government treatment. Mr Mullan, who directed the Magdalene Sisters, said what happened to Mr Oguchuckwu was an "injustice of the highest order".

"All these people have been caught in a Catch-22 - when as a consequence of detention they suffer mental health problems," he said. "It then gives the government license to put them into prison, where their mental health will suffer even more. "The fact that people give money demonstrates that Scottish people are more compassionate than our so-called governments."

Robina Qureshi, of the charity Positive Action in Housing, said:

“If John Oguchuckwu had been a bit of paper the system would have shredded him by now. He entered Dungavel Removal Centre in December 2003 as a fit and healthy man. He leaves the UK detention system nine months later a changed and broken man.

"We can celebrate the fact he is free. But we also have to remember he has been ground down psychologically by the interminable detention and the feeling that there was noone outside able to help him. Well people helped him, people he doesn't even know have helped him.

"Even in prison where he was taken after he attempted suicide, other prisoners asked him "how long are you serving, and he had to say ashamedly "I don't know". And other prisoners asked him "What is your crime?" And again he had to answer "I have committed no crime, I am an asylum seeker. i had a problem in my country" Other prisoners felt angry for john Oguchuckwu, it is a disgrace that the British Government cannot muster even a little sense of shame at the human rights abuses they are allowing to happen on British soil.

"The most peaceable groups in Scottish society like the Quakers, the churches, the Iona Community and others are driven to outrage at the full extent of the psychological damage that John has suffered while being left to languish in prison after prison.

"But today John is free after bail money collected from so many people £2,300 was handed over. He is now free to continue his civil action against Wackenhut and fight for his right to refuge through a decent set of lawyers. We want to thank his lawyers Livingstone Brown, Mr & Mrs McInally, Gary Lewis, Peter Mullan, Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Beth Junor, the Quakers, the Dungavel Befriending Group and many many others who stepped in to give money and help John regain his liberty.

"John's case and that of Aven Hung -detained 25 months - and Andre Aliev - detained/imprisoned 19 months represent an awkward and embarrassing truth about the the UK's detention system. Britain is guilty of systematic human rights abuses against those who are held indefinitely without time limit, charge or trial or even a crime to pin on them.

"People have left countries where they have been detained indefinitely without charge behind barbed wire and where governments have remained silent and they have come here to be detained indefinitely without charge behind barbed wire where our government remains silent. How come we complain about human rights abuses abroad and say nothing about it when it happens here?

"It is a complete contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 Geneva convention on refugees. Asylum seekers are being held prisoner and reduced to mental wrecks by the system of indefinite detention."

"The Home Office is guilty of perpetrating systematic human rights abuses by leaving innocent people to rot for months and years inside the detention system before dumping them in a prison for becoming suicidal.

Mr Oguchuckwu has instructed his solicitors to prepare a civil action following the alleged incident at Heathrow. His legal team argued that removing him from the UK while the case was pending would breach his right to a fair hearing. Read background to this case.