A Nigerian priest detained by immigration authorities, strip searched and imprisoned, has spoken of his ordeal to the Irish media. Fr John Achebe (33), a parish priest in the central Nigerian city of Onitsha, was stopped by officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) after arriving on a flight from Istanbul on Tuesday last week (9th September). He was dressed as a priest at the time.
Fr Achebe was invited to visit Ireland by a relation, Dr Chinwednu Udegbe, who is a psychiatrist at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. All of his papers for the visit were in order, however when he described Dr Udegbe as a brother, and then a cousin, emigration officials became suspicious and arrested him on suspicion of trying to enter Ireland illegally.
He was taken to Cloverhill Prison, strip-searched and placed in a cell for the night with four other inmates.
Speaking to RTÉ news yesterday, a clearly shaken Fr Achebe, said he was shocked at what had happened.
“They asked us to remove our clothes. In my entire life I have never had to remove my clothes in front of other men,” he said.
Fr Achebe shared the cell with four other men for the night. There was no privacy, and the men had to use the toilet in front of each other. “Everyone there was witnessing each person's business,” he said. “I have never lost my freedom since I was born,” he added.
The parish priest from Onitsha was only released following the intervention of the Nigerian ambassador, who gave guarantees on his behalf.
Fr Achebe was told on Wednesday that he would be taken to Dublin airport for deportation, but when he arrived at the airport he was, instead, told to report to the immigration bureau on September 30th, the day he was due to leave. Gardaí also kept his passport.
In a letter to the Irish Times yesterday, Executive Secretary for the Irish Missionary Union, Fr Eamon Aylward, “strenuously” protested at the priest’s treatment.
He said his protest was not because Fr Achebe was a priest, but because he is a human being.
“This incident leads me to ask: how many voiceless immigrants, who do not have the contacts or the support that Fr John has, have been violated and humiliated in this way?” he wrote. He called on the Department of Justice to review its “inadequate training for our immigration and prison personnel to ensure that such an incident never takes place again.”
“Anyone who knows anything about Africa is aware that throughout that continent there is a totally different cultural understanding of family relationships to what we take for granted in the West. It is obvious that the immigration officer involved in this incident had no idea of this reality when Fr John said he was both a "brother" and a "cousin" to the person he was visiting.
“ Also, any of us would be embarrassed at being forced to strip in public; but for an African, such an act goes well beyond embarrassment; you are talking about total humiliation and disdain in forcing an African to strip in front of other Africans, and even more so in front of white people. Why are such basic cultural differences not respected among the employees of the Department of Justice?” asked Fr Aylward, who said he was writing on behalf of the 2,100 Irish missionaries working abroad.
In a letter to Fr Achebe’s solicitor Gerry Cullen, immigration authorities said Fr Achebe was “lawfully and appropriately refused permission” and his release was “an entirely exceptional circumstance done as a gesture of goodwill to the ambassador” and to Fr Achebe.
Fr Gerry Kane, who has been given pastoral care of foreign nationals by the Archdiocese of Dublin, said the arrest and detention of visitors like Fr Achebe is a regular occurrence. “The system needs to be both robust and just, but, what this case illustrates, is that this has not been achieved,” he told the Irish Times.
Later talking on RTÉ, he said the case highlighted the need for increased transparency in the system, and independent monitoring. “A priest shouldn’t be treated differently to anyone else,” he added.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: CIN)