Hey,

ok i couldn't find any other section to put this so i just put it here. If it wrong then please accept my apologies!

Ok i need some help/advice on behalf of my cousin stuck in zimbabwe. No doubt you're all well aware of the situation there at the moment. Ok so his situation is this, his family specifically his father has been a massive supporter of MDC since its inception. By the way before i forget to mention this family is INDIAN! Ok so his father is a very prominant business man in Gweru (a small town where everyone knows everyone and EVERYONE knows this family as they own half the town and operate a huge bus business as well as commercial trucking and mining!)

So his father has been supporting the MDC with donations and providing transport, logistics, tents etc over the years. Obviously this had caught the attention of CIO and other state security members and since 2000 there has been non stop problems for the family. His father has been arrested countless times, smashed to a pulp several times, had buses burnt out but still he has stood firmly claiming that he was born there and will die there! Ok so in 2000 his son,my cousin, was also providing logistics and transport for the MDC and he was soon picked up by the CIO and given a beating that i wouldn't even wish upon my worst enemy!! Soon after this his father forced him to come to the UK for a break. While here on a holiday visa he deccided to complete his computer course in the UK and then head back to Zimbabwe. He applied for his student visa in the uk and this was granted. He completed his course and left in 2001. BUT before he left he lost his passport when his car was broken into (UK Police record of break in) so he applied for an ETD from the Zimbabwe embassy and this granted. When he left he says not 1 person was interested at all to take note he left the country as he wasn't asked to show his ETD to no one except the flight check in and even they just looked at and just gave it back. So as far as that stands no one is sure if anyone knows he even left the UK!!!

Ok present day situation is that there has been a tipoff by a junior official that the CIO are now going to be after the entire family!! Already the whole family has gone into hiding and the family are concerned that other inocent people may get caught up in this issue. Already the search has begun when on thursday the family home was raided and then the offices and stores. Managers already have been beaten up to talk but how can they talk when they know nothing! An innocent family friend was beaten on saturday trying to get info. Sooner or later someone is going to get hurt real bad!

Plans are now being made for my cousin to escape the country via a private jet and come to the uk as this is where majority of the family relatives live. His mother and father refuse to leave zimbabwe as they adamant that they are citizens of that country and as such will stand with all other zimbabweans to fight for their country!! Unfortunately my cousin doesn't think zimbabwe is worth dying for!!

Ok now to help my cousin have a concrete case for an asylum application i think it may be essential to have some form of evidence to support his claim. I alreday know he has copies of his arrest warrant issued in 2000, his hospital assesment from 2000, his MDC card from 2000. He has mentioned that he doesn't want to claim POLITICAL ASYLUM as he himself is NO LONGER directly involved in politics and this would be lying if he said he was. Instead he says he just wants to ask for protection as he fears for his life! Dunno if you can make such a claim! What other evidence should he try to get hold of to support this?

Also forgot to mention that his and the familys passports were conviscated in 2005 and so will be entering the UK with no passport. How he enters the UK will be via private jet on a private airstrip but i can not give any details on that. Also he wants no form of help in terms of handouts from the government as he is well off enough to look after himself.

Ok i hope that some people here may be able to help and if not could you point us to a solicitor that actaully has a proven track record of doing something OTHER than just taking consultation fees!

Any help will be well appreciated.

Thanks