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“Chronicle of Death Foretold” - Cause and Consequence in the Death of Semira Adamu

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“Chronicle of Death Foretold” - Cause and Consequence in the Death of Semira Adamu statewatch monitoring the state and civil liberties in the UK and Europe vol 8 no 5 September - October 1998 “Chronicle of Death Foretold” - cause and consequence in the death of Semira Adamu The death of Semira Adamu, a 20 year old Nigerian woman issued to officers responsible for deportations allowing cushions killed whilst being deported from Belgium, has made headline to be put over the faces of deportees both to gag them and to news throughout Europe, especially following the resignation of prevent them from biting anyone. Home Affairs minister Louis Tobback. Inquiries have since revealed that Semira's death occurred as a consequence of The death of Semira Adamu practices which have become part of a daily routine of This coincided roughly with the time that Semira Adamu entered deportations from Belgium. the picture. Semira came from a relatively wealthy family from Lagos in southern Nigeria. She originally left Nigeria to escape Vande Lanotte’s law an arranged marriage to a much older, polygamous man. Her The countdown to Semira's death began over two years ago with eventual destination was Berlin, however the plane she was on the introduction in 1996 of a new asylum bill (see Statewatch, made a stop-over at Zaventem, where Semira fell foul of the vol 6, no. 2, 3, 4 & 5). This new legislation (known as Vande “safe third country” rule. She was then taken to Transit centre Lanotte's law after then home office minister Johan Vande 127bis, where she was questioned for the first time on March 26 Lanotte) increased the responsibility of transport companies, and refused entry. She appealed against this decision and after a making them liable for fines plus the costs of any sans-papiers second interview also went against her a decision was made to brought into Belgium by them. It also allowed the indefinite forcibly deport her. Semira was terrified by the thought of incarceration of asylum seekers as well as the implementation of returning to Nigeria, where she faced not only marrying both the Schengen and Dublin conventions regarding safe third somebody against her will but also physical punishment by her countries. family. The implementation of the new law led to the creation of The authorities made five increasingly violent attempts to several new asylum centres including the infamous “127bis” in deport her. After the fifth attempt, which was cancelled after the Steenokkerzeel close to Zaventem airport. Although the Belgian pilot refused to fly with her, her lawyer stated that she had been government has since described the regime at Steenokkerzeel as warned that all possible methods would be used to deport her and “relaxed”, campaigners at the time described the asylum centre that any violence used against her “would be her own fault”. Her as a “concentration camp” surrounded by two fences topped by lawyer added that Semira feared for her life. razor wire. At that time one of the distinctive features of By this time Semira had already become a cause celebre and Steenokkerzeel was the arbitrary use of isolation cells to hold campaigners, increasingly concerned about Belgium's asylum “unruly” asylum seekers for an indefinite period. laws, had taken up her case. At the same time more and more The new law also saw the introduction of quotas, (9,000 in reports were published about the increasing violence involved 1996, 12,000 in 1997, 15,000 in 1998). In order to meet these with forced deportations. A pilot working for the national airline quotas new practices were introduced to speed up deportations, company, Sabena, appeared anonymously on a television such as the removal of the children of deportees straight from programme describing violent scenes he had witnessed during school. In October 1997, after resistance from deportees had led forced deportations. Semira's case had already led to to the cancellation of deportations, a new Rijkswacht demonstrations outside Steenokkerzeel. (Gendarmerie) directive in the form of a 14-page manual was Finally, on September 20, two days before her death, Semira IN THIS ISSUE UK: Lawrence, Reel and Menson see page 25 Europol: “global” exchange of data see page 20 Statewatch, PO Box 1516, London N16 0EW, UK Tel: (00 44) 0181 802 1882 Fax: (00 44) 0181 880 1727 E-mail: [email protected] © Statewatch ISSN 0961-7280. Material in the bulletin may be used if an acknowledgement is given. C appeared on television as part of a documentary about rejected implication, European asylum law. As Linda points out in an asylum seekers. In it she gave a graphic description of the fourth interview with Elektronisch Nieuws, the rejection of Semira's attempt to deport her: asylum claim took place in accordance with the 1951 Geneva I was woken at 6.30 a.m. and given twenty minutes to prepare for Convention relating to the status of refugees. This again raises the departure... When we arrived at the airport my hands and feet were question of the extent to which the Convention is capable or bound and I was thrown into an isolation cell for over three hours. At incapable of recognising gender-specific or gender-related forms 11.15 they forced me onto the plane. I began to scream and cry as I of persecution and human rights abuse: “... the Geneva was surrounded by six gendarmes and two men from Sabena. The Convention doesn't give any specific rights to women, or for that airline men pushed me around and one held a cushion to my face. He matter to refugees from civil wars.” Linda argues that “there are almost suffocated me. These men were supposed to accompany me all many people who simply cannot return to their country of origin, the way to Lome. Passengers intervened at this point, saying that they even if they don't meet the criteria laid down by the Geneva would get off the plane if the men did not let me go. Convention”. The events leading up to Semira's death were captured on video. Others have pointed towards the role of the Gendarmerie in This time she was surrounded by 11 gendarmes as well as the the affair. The Gendarmerie has been surrounded by controversy standard two airline company men. As ordinary passengers were since the early 1980's, when accusations surfaced linking them to boarding the plane she was forced to bend down, put her face on the Nijvel gang, a criminal organisation responsible for a string a cushion on the knee of one of the gendarmes and was held in of crimes in Brabant. More recently it was revealed that elements that position for about twenty minutes. At the end she lost of the Belgian far-right had managed systematically to infiltrate consciousness. She was immediately taken to St Luc Hospital in the Gendarmerie, with as many as 60 gendarmes being involved Brussels. Doctors were unable to revive her and she died at with the fascist Front de la Jeunesse. Finally, in November last 9.32pm. year the shooting of a Moroccan youth by a gendarme was followed by a weekend of riots (see Statewatch Vol. 6 no 1 Tobback resigns through Vol 7 no 5). The announcement of Semira's death led to spontaneous The Dutroux case, in which a paedophile killer was left at demonstrations across Belgium. In Steenokkerzeel inmates went large for years, leading to the deaths of thirteen children, has also on immediate hunger strike while hundreds of people surrounded left its mark on the Gendarmerie. Slogans used by demonstrators the transit camp. This led to Tobback closing the centre down and outside Steenokkerzeel pointed out that when Dutroux managed freeing the remaining inmates. It was effectively his last decision to escape earlier this year he was guarded by only two gendarmes, as deputy prime minister and home office minister. The following as compared with the 11 surrounding Semira on board the Sabena day after Semira died Tobback appeared at a press conference; aircraft. according to reporters he appeared shaken by the incident. He defended the gendarmes involved, stating that they had handled An EU-wide problem everything “by the book”. He took full responsibility for Semira's This is not the first time a deportee has died whilst being expelled death, and stated even then that “... if it were up to me then I from “Fortress Europe”. A Zairian man died in 1986, also as a would have already resigned. This has been the worst day of my result of a cushion being placed over his head, whilst being political life”. Yet he appeared to try to focus blame on deported from Belgium. There was no enquiry at the time. Nor campaigners who according to him “encouraged deportees to was there an enquiry into the death of a Tamil asylum seeker resist”. By Friday he decided that he would have to go, following following his forcible deportation from France in 1991. This case two revelations. First, it emerged that one of the gendarmes has only recently been investigated (see report in this issue). In responsible for Semira's deportation had been suspended for a the UK Joy Gardner's death, resulting from her face being month in January 1997 following allegations in the Het Volk covered with masking tape whilst police attempted to deport her newspaper that he had mistreated a deportee. Second, the video is another notorious example. Three police officers were later of the incident was shown to a shocked nation, revealing that the acquitted of her manslaughter, whilst police procedures were gendarmes had been cracking jokes whilst holding the cushion reformed to exclude the use of mouth restraints (see Statewatch over Semira's face.
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