CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE WINS
Asylum for Tortured Political Refugee
Jessica Jansyn (‘10) and Jennifer Mui (’10) under the supervision of Professor Bryan Lonegan won asylum for a tortured political prisoner from Cameroon
The Center for Social Justice has won asylum for a tortured political refugee from Cameroon. Jessica Jansyn (’10) and Jennifer Mui (’10) of the Immigrant & Human Rights and Immigrant Workers’ Rights Clinics successfully brought the asylum application under the supervision of Professor Bryan Lonegan. The political refugee, “Citizen M” (who must remain anonymous) was a high ranking official who had been imprisoned and tortured in response to his political activism regarding the death of his son and others at political protests in 2008 referred to as the Hunger Riots.
During the Hunger Riots, the Cameroonian government sent police to disburse the crowd and the police fired upon the protesters. Although the Cameroonian government has acknowledged a limited number of deaths from the Hunger Riots, independent organizations have concluded that the number of dead is far greater than that acknowledged; NGO’s have listed the number of deaths at 100.
Citizen M, a Cameroonian citizen, then took part in a protest of the killings on the lawn of Cameroon’s governor; he was beaten by police, then detained, interrogated, and tortured by police for about two hours. Shortly thereafter, Citizen M appeared with other parents of slain Hunger Riot protesters on a debate broadcasted by one of Cameroon’s independent television stations; the debate was shut down by police 20 minutes later. Three days later Citizen M was arrested. At first he was held with other prisoners but was then isolated in an extraordinarily small cell and forced to watch a video of the Cameroonian president speaking—over and over again. Over several days he was interrogated, physically tortured and sexually humiliated.
Professor Lonegan remarked, “Jessica and Jennifer did a tremendous job in this case. After hours of interviews with the client, they prepared a painstakingly detailed affidavit, contacted witnesses in Cameroon for corroboration, collected evidence of the Cameroonian government’s appalling human rights record, and prepared the client to tell his story to the asylum officer. Their work made all the difference. The overwhelming majority of these cases are denied at this level because most applicants do not have counsel and do not know what they need to say or prove to gain asylum. Jessica and Jennifer’s representation here guaranteed that this man was granted asylum without having to fight his case in court over the next several years.”
Ms. Jansyn and Ms. Mui have proved to be a successful team at CSJ. Earlier in the semester they assisted a Roman Catholic single mother obtain an order withholding her deportation to Pakistan on the grounds that the Taliban and religious fundamentalists there are persecuting Christians.