11 August 2023
Solidarity Statement - Students stand in solidarity with detained international student

In June 2023, Muhammad, a University of Stirling postgraduate student was arrested and detained by immigration officers in his place of work.

He is accused of breaching the conditions of his visa by working more than the legally permitted 20 hours per week. He is currently being held at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, where he has been detained for over seven weeks now, and has had his visa cancelled.

The student has asserted that he was following his visa requirements, attending all of his classes, and completing all of his assignments. The Court denied his application for bail, leaving him in Dungavel awaiting a decision on whether his case can be judicially reviewed.

In 2018, a WHO report found that immigration detention can have a severe impact on migrants’ health, especially mental health, and that these negative effects increase in severity the longer someone is detained. (WHO, 2018). The student has told us that he is experiencing extreme emotional distress and declining physical and mental health as a result of his prolonged detention.

We are becoming increasingly worried about our fellow student, specifically regarding his health, and are appalled by the way his case has been handled - despite having provided the Home Office with evidence to support that he was following the conditions of his visa over a month ago, they are yet to review his case. The student continues to live in limbo.

We urge the Home Office to review his case, properly consider the evidence he has provided, and make a decision on the case promptly - rather than unnecessarily prolonging the deprivation of the student’s liberty which has proven to have detrimental effects on him.

We stand in full solidarity and hope to welcome him back in our community at the University of Stirling as soon as possible!

Amnesty at University of Stirling

Student Action for Refugees Stirling

NUS Scotland

No Evictions Network

1,297
signatures
1,123 verified
  1. Susan Hare, Student Action for Refugees Stirling, Stirling
  2. Andy Paterson, Policy Officer, Stirling
  3. Zoë Crosher, VP Communities, Stirling Students Union, Stirling
  4. Megan Lindsay, Volunteer, Calais Food Collective, Calais
  5. Jules Adamska, Student, Stirling
  6. Jess Urquhart, Student, University of Stirling, Edinburgh
  7. Kirsten Murray
  8. Shawn Jonczyk, student, Stirling
  9. Joshua Parsonage, Studebt, University of Stirling, Stirling
  10. Ross Gibson, Branch Secretary, Strathclyde UCU, Glasgow
  11. Elizabeth Elliott, Lecturer, University of Aberdeen, edinburgh
  12. Eliot Sherwin, Stirling Solidarity Space
  13. David Pritchard, Glasgow
  14. Daniel Atton Beckmann, PhD researcher, University of Stirling, Stirling
  15. Louis David Bayman, Associate professor, University of Southampton, London
  16. Aidah Anwar, educator, Council, Stirling
  17. Niamh Brook, Student, Stirling
  18. Scottish Socialist Youth Stirling
  19. Giulia Teufel, Stirling
  20. Cormac Graham, Bartender, Black Isle Bar, Fort William
...
1,083 more
verified signatures
  1. Sara Salem, Academic, London
  2. Carrie Friese, Academic, London
  3. William Harmar, Student, Alva
  4. Magdalena Ietswaart, Academic, University of Stirling
  5. Erika Sella, Student Adviser, Edinburgh
  6. Kainat saroya, Student, GGCgojra, Gojra
  7. Esther McIntosh, Academic, Leeds
  8. Ashley Suárez Clarke, Student, Manchester Leftist Action, Manchester
  9. emir, Student, Manchester
  10. Sam Collinson, Student, Manchester
  11. Clare Andrews, Lecturer, University of Stirling
  12. Chidozie Nwaigwe, Student President, Glasgow Caledonian University Students' Association, Glasgow
  13. Amy, Development Coordinator, University of York, York
  14. Jonny Exon, CEO, University of York's Graduate Student's Organisation, York
  15. A Fletcher, Glasgow
  16. Taylor Ogle, Marketing Coordinator, Leeds Beckett Students' Union, Sheffield
  17. Niamh Kirkbride, Student, University of Stirling, Stirling
  18. Webster Susan, Civil servant, Perth
  19. Cornelia Cederlöf, Student, University of Stirling, Stirling
  20. Salem, Student, STAR, Leicester
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