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Heartless treatment of Ifa Muaza Heartless treatment of Isa Muazu
(4 days later)
Theresa May is believed to have authorised up to £110,000 in a failed bid to deport to Nigeria an asylum-seeker who has been on hunger strike for 100 days (Report, 30 November). Ifa Muaza chose to starve himself rather than face Boko Haram, who slaughter schoolchildren and churchgoers. Mr Muaza says he grew up with men who joined Boko Haram. He knows them. They know him. His refusal to join sounds both credible and brave. Theresa May is believed to have authorised up to £110,000 in a failed bid to deport to Nigeria an asylum-seeker who has been on hunger strike for 100 days (Report, 30 November). Isa Muazu chose to starve himself rather than face Boko Haram, who slaughter schoolchildren and churchgoers. Mr Muazu says he grew up with men who joined Boko Haram. He knows them. They know him. His refusal to join sounds both credible and brave.
Having joined the hunger strike of white women detainees in Pretoria central prison in 1964, I know that it is not done lightly. The asylum-seeking Nigerian journalist-cum-father in my novel The Other Side of Truth begins a hunger strike in detention in Britain. Had I dreamed up a plot of such cruel folly and heartlessness as May has provided, it would have been dismissed as too far-fetched, even propagandist. Has our home secretary prepared her statement if and when Mr Muaza dies in detention? I am reminded of apartheid police minister Jimmy Kruger's words on Steve Biko's death: Dit laat my koud. "It leaves me cold." What has happened to Britain's moral climate that our home secretary feels her actions are acceptable?
Beverley Naidoo
Bournemouth		 Having joined the hunger strike of white women detainees in Pretoria central prison in 1964, I know that it is not done lightly. The asylum-seeking Nigerian journalist-cum-father in my novel The Other Side of Truth begins a hunger strike in detention in Britain. Had I dreamed up a plot of such cruel folly and heartlessness as May has provided, it would have been dismissed as too far-fetched, even propagandist. Has our home secretary prepared her statement if and when Mr Muazu dies in detention? I am reminded of apartheid police minister Jimmy Kruger's words on Steve Biko's death: Dit laat my koud. "It leaves me cold." What has happened to Britain's moral climate that our home secretary feels her actions are acceptable?
Beverley Naidoo
Bournemouth
• You report a "sustained broadside" against the European court of human rights by Lord Sumption (29 November). A closely argued case for why we need the ECHR was presented by Nicolas Bratza on 26 November in the annual Rothschild Foster lecture. Publishing that lecture would be an excellent Guardian contribution to balanced debate.
Iain Orr
London		• You report a "sustained broadside" against the European court of human rights by Lord Sumption (29 November). A closely argued case for why we need the ECHR was presented by Nicolas Bratza on 26 November in the annual Rothschild Foster lecture. Publishing that lecture would be an excellent Guardian contribution to balanced debate.
Iain Orr
London
• The headline and first letter were amended on 5 December 2013 to correct the spelling of Isa Muazu's name, from Ifa Muaza as the original said.
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