NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear addresses supporters of Charles at bail hearing (Keith Sellick)

Journalist Charles Atangana, who is being threatened with deportation back to Cameroon, won his bail hearing yesterday. Charles was being held in Dover Immigration Removal Centre while his case was being heard in a tribunal in central London.

A lively band of supporters, including NUJ and Unison members, were outside the tribunal in support of Charles. The news arrived of him winning bail in the afternoon. Now the campaign has won its first step but there is still a long way to go for Charles to win his asylum case.

Charles was arrested and tortured in Cameroon, a country where journalists and political activists who oppose the government are ill-treated and sometimes killed. he fled to the UK and lived in Scotland before being detained and threatened with deportation.

More on the campaign at the NUJ website

1. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear has a comment is free piece in the Guardian in support for Charles and outlining the case (see post below for more details).

   And the TUC is also supporting  Charles, pointing out that unions must fight for freedom of expression as it is central to the freedom to organise. And that fight must be international.

Charles Atangana is a journalist who fled Cameroon after death threats. He has lived and worked in this country for many years but is now facing deportation back to Cameroon. He is being held in Dover Immigration Removal Centre.

The NUJ is actively supporting Charles and is campaigning for him to be given indefinite leave to remain in the UK (he lives and works in Scotland)

Tomorrow he has a bail hearing in London and the NUJ will be present supporting him.

Protest on Thursday 12th August at 14.00 in London, Taylor House,  88 Rosebery Avenue, case number EC1R 4QU.

Read here for more about the campaign and the concerns over safety of journalists and human rights activists in Cameroon