A perfectly ordinary family, Jusuf and Shpresa Raba lived in Gray (Haute-Saône, about 50km east of Dijon in the east of France) with their 3 children who all went to school in Gray. Qerim, 7 was in P2 while Dashnor, 4 and Dashuriye 3, who were born in France, were in nursery school. A perfectly ordinary family except they were refugees from Kosovo.

Jusuf had refused to take part in the UCK’s arson attacks against Serbian villages. In retaliation he and his wife were subjected to horrendous violence, so they fled with their child Qerim and found refuge in France. They arrived in Gray on November 9, 2001. France denied them refugee status several times. Yet, Jusuf’s 5 brothers and 2 sisters are all political refugees : 4 of them are in France, 1 is in Switzerland, 1 in Austria and 1 in Sweden. Despite being deemed "illegal" by the French authorities, they tried to settle in Gray and had two children there.

In June 2006, due to intense campaigning from Réseau Education Sans Frontiéres (RESF), Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy issued a decree allowing for the ’regularization’ of ’failed’ asylum-seekers providing a few stringent criteria were met. The Rabas were hopeful : they met all those criteria and filled in an application form. They never got any answer from the local préfecture in Vesoul.

On November 16, 2006 at 7.30, while they were having breakfast, they were arrested in their home in Gray. They were sent to Lyons detention centre, their deportation was planned for the next morning. However, the CIMADE (the only campaign group allowed in French detention centres) immediately filed for their case to be re-examined by OFPRA. Their deportation was suspended.

Meanwhile in Gray, people started to react and demonstrate. The next morning, parents started to gather in front of the children’s nursery school. Several people were shocked and in tears. One of the teachers was crying. A strong feeling of injustice was in the air.

From then on, demonstrations were held every night in Gray, Vesoul and Besançon. At the same time, in Lyons, human rights activists and RESF members visited the family regularly in the detention centre. A national campaign for their release was building up.

Shpresa Raba was adamant she would not be deported to Kosovo. She kept telling the people who got in touch with her on her mobile phone, or who visited her in the detention centre, she would do anything not to be placed on the plane. She was in terrible fear while the children kept crying and asking when they would go bask to school. Jusuf was scared too but much less vocal.

On Saturday 2, the family was brutally woken up by the police at 4am. Shpresa managed to phone a friend to spread the alarm. A phone chain was immediately activated and activists hurried once again to the airport. About 20 of them met there at 5.15am.

The police kept telling them no deportation was planned that day. Nevertheless, activists talked to passengers on the likely flights and swapped mobile phone numbers. Around 7, a passenger on a plane was arrested while he was on the phone talking to one of the activists inside the airport. It turned out this passenger was François Auguste, an elected representative from the Communist Party in the Regional Council who happened to be travelling on that flight. Mr Auguste had asked the pilot not to take off with this family on board. When the pilot replied he was only doing his job, François Auguste tried to convince the passengers not to buckle up their seat belts. Then the police violently took him out of the plane and kept him in custody for more than 5 hours (no charges were brought against him).

Meanwhile the Raba family arrived in Paris. They had been told initially by the police they were being flown to Paris for them to see a judge as courts in Lyons were closed on Sundays. This was a lie, which they realised when they were dragged to a small plane bearing the name "Kosovo".

Shpresa was separated from her husband and children in a police car. Jusuf was gagged and tied up in front of his children. Shpresa was taken by force to the plane. Her foot got caught in a barrier but the policemen just pulled. It took 6 men to restrain her and yet they did not manage to pin her down to her seat. Then the pilot refused to take off.

So Shpresa was briefly admitted to hospital. The doctors wanted to keep her but the police refused and drove the family back to Lyons.

When RESF activists heard of this, they rushed to the detention centre and saw Shpresa walking with clutches, unable to put her foot down.

On December 3, the family was brought to the Juge des Libertés who had to decide whether they were kept in the detention centre or not. People from Gray had travelled to Lyons in 3 cars. Only 15 people were admitted in the tribunal while 150 were waiting outside.

Then at 11 the judge rendered his verdict : the Rabas would stay for 5 more days until their deportation aboard a special governmental flight scheduled on Wednesday 6. The family’s lawyer appealed against the decision.

Inside the detention centre, a hunger strike started in support of the Rabas. Jusuf and Shpresa also decided to stop eating.

On Monday 4, faxes and emails of protest were pouring in at the Préfecture de Haute-Saône and Ministry of the Interior but the judge’s decision was confirmed in appeal. After the hearing, no contact could be established with the family.

In fact, they were never brought back to the detention centre in Lyons but driven to the one in Toulouse instead ! On Wednesday 6 at 8.30am, a special flight brought them to Kosovo : a young couple with 3 young children with an escort of 10 policemen. The police told them to leave some of their meagre belongings behind (Jusuf and Shpresa chose to keep only a few books in French for the children). Then, due to bad weather conditions, the plane couldn’t land in Pristina and had to be diverted to Tirana, Albania instead ! Shpresa, Jusuf and their 3 children spent the night on chairs under the watchful eye of the 10 policemen. No food was given to them.

On the next day, Thursday 7 December, they were finally brought back to Kosovo. The MINUK drove them to Orahovac, the very village they had fled and where their lives are endangered.

Today, the Rabas are staying locked up in a room, they cannot go out as it would be too dangerous for them. It is cold, there is no heating and food is scarce. The children, who do not speak Albanian, keep asking when they will go back to Gray. Qerim writes to his friends and teacher every day.

In Gray, Besançon, Lyons, Paris and elsewhere their friends keep campaigning for their return.


What you can do to help:

1. Sign the petition on  http://www.educationsansfrontieres.org/article.php3?id_article=3352

2. Send a fax to the Ambassador of France to where you live, requesting that he conveys to his government that there is widespread support for the Raba family to be brought back to France.

Further info on  http://www.educationsansfrontieres.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=219

e-mail::  resf70@yahoo.fr homepage::  http://www.educationsansfrontieres.org/