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TOGO ACTIVIST SEEKS TO AVOID DEPORTATION UNDER UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
Ablavi Haden, an activist from Togo, is seeking to avoid deportation under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (which recently was enacted into US law). She claims she will be subject to torture and possibly murder at the hands of the government of Togo if she is forced to return. Ms. Haden is a leader in the developing movements for women's rights and democracy in Togo. Her husband, a government official who suspected others of stealing from the government, was murdered in 1991.
Ms. Haden, a mother of five, first came to the U.S. in 1989 on a student visa. She had filed an application to extend it when, in 1996, the INS moved to deport her. She then filed a claim for asylum, which was denied. She was released pending appeal and moved. The INS claims it was not informed of her change of address, and in September 1997 began to view her as a fugitive when she failed to appear at a hearing. However, she was issued employment authorization from the INS in October 1997.
She was arrested in March of 1998 and had remained silent for fear of repercussions in Togo if she is forced to return. Ms. Haden was released on January 11, in what the INS said was a cost savings measure of releasing non-criminal aliens scheduled for deportation.