On Thursday, 13 September, Manuel Bravo, an asylum seeker from Angola, took his own life in despair at his imminent deportation and in a desperate final attempt to prevent the expulsion of his son. Mr. Bravo hanged himself on his 35th birthday, less than a day after he was taken to Yarl's Wood detention centre for asylum-seekers in Bedfordshire with his son, Antonio, pending their deportation to Angola. The Home Office have indicated that Antonio is now unlikely to be deported before his 18th birthday, which will mean he will be able to finish his schooling in Britain.
The Independent reported that Mr. Bravo had made his case for asylum based on the murder of his parents in Angola in August 2001. Mr. Bravo's father was a leader of the Association of the Youth Democracy, founded in 1998 to challenge President José Eduardo dos Santos's regime. Government warnings resulted first in the arrest of him and his father, then the murder of his parents in August 2001.
Although Mr. Bravo moved to Britain with his wife and two sons, Antonio and Mellyu, his wife returned to Angola with Mellyu earlier this year to care for an orphaned niece. She was subsequently arrested and jailed for two months and is now living as a refugee with her son in another African country.
The circumstances surrounding the detention of Mr. Bravo and his son are not clear. The Independent quoted Rev Alistair Kaye, a vicar who was helping the family, as saying that Mr. Bravo's removal to Yarl's Wood was illegal as his asylum application had not been fully processed.
Mr. Bravo was the sixth asylum-seeker to commit suicide while in detention awaiting deportation in the past 12 months. At least three other asylum-seekers living in the community have also committed suicide after losing their appeals this year. The deaths have prompted refugee groups to demand an urgent public inquiry.
A spokesperson for the Refugee Council said: "This is both very sad and hugely appalling. It demonstrates in such stark terms the enormous failures of a system that seems to concentrate more on increasing the number of removals than it does on ensuring that people who need safety here are able to get it. It is vital that procedures are urgently reviewed to ensure this cannot happen again."
In July this year Yarl's Wood, Britain's largest immigration detention centre, was condemned in a report by the chief inspector of prisons who found that children detained at the centre were "damaged" by their experience.
Other information:
Independent: Asylum seeker kills himself so child can stay in Britain
Independent: Inquiry urged over increase in detention centre deaths
