Angolan says he'll face torture, death if deported (AP c/o Houston Chronicle)

Angolan says he'll face torture, death if deported
March 18, 2008, 3:30PM
By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS — An Angolan man who claims he will be beaten, imprisoned or killed if returned to his country expects to be deported Friday.
Isaac Manuel, 39, alleges Angolan police pursued him for objecting to mandatory military service because of his religious convictions. Authorities also wrongly interpreted his work with the Seventh-day Adventist church's youth program as political, Manuel contends.
Angolan officials say Manuel's fears of persecution are unfounded and U.S. immigration officials say details of his story — which includes the rape of his wife by soldiers, a prison escape and the murder of his relatives — are not believable.
"His oral and written testimony was internally inconsistent, lacked details, and on certain points was implausible," a U.S. asylum officer wrote in an assessment of Manuel's case.
While Angola has had problems, conditions have improved and Manuel's allegations are false claims made only to remain in the U.S., said Amorim Sebastiao, Angolan vice consul in Houston.
"This is just a story," he said.
Manuel's supporters and friends in the U.S. do believe him, though, and are still hoping he can somehow remain in the country.
"All he does is just beg for a reprieve of some kind," said Charlotte Schofield, Manuel's friend and former English tutor who has been speaking on his behalf in the case.
Manuel, jailed since November at the Rolling Plains facility about 210 miles west of Dallas, has been told he would be flown to Angola on Friday, Schofield said. Manuel was not available for comment at the facility.
Manuel says he sought refuge in the United States — living in Keene and later Dallas — after Angolan authorities imprisoned and tortured him and killed some of his relatives.
The problems began when he refused Angolan authorities' attempts to draft him into the armed forces, Manuel alleges. After authorities saw Manuel working with youngsters for the church's Pathfinders program, they questioned whether he was building a movement opposing the government. Manuel told them he was distributing religious information and explained youngsters marched because the Pathfinders are similar to the Boy Scouts, according to case files.
In 2000, Manuel alleges, soldiers knocked down the door of his home, raped his pregnant wife and took him to prison for the second time. He was called a "traitor" for refusing to join the army and was sexually assaulted with police batons while imprisoned, Manuel said.
Seventh-day Adventists are recommended to serve in the military in countries where such service is required but to ask for noncombatant roles. It's a difficult request for people to make in countries were factions are at odds and refusal to fight can interpreted as being for the opposing side, said John Graz, religious liberty director at the Seventh-day Adventist church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.
"People can be persecuted because it ... may be perceived as political involvement," he said.
According to Manuel's account, an attack on the facility by Angolan rebels allowed him to escape in 2001. But immigration officials found his testimony about the escape inconsistent.
An asylum assessment said Manuel first described how he fled when the wall of his cell was knocked down, then said it was vibrations from the bombing. In written testimony, he explained his freedom was the result of a fire at the facility started by rebels.
Manuel's friend, Schofield, thinks the differences can be attributed to inadequate translation and his own difficulty articulating what he suffered. His former attorney also said immigration officials concentrated on finding minor discrepancies not central to the claim.
In case files, Manuel said fellow Seventh-day Adventists hid him after his escape, then secured him a passport, tourist visa and cash to travel to the U.S.
Immigration officials questioned how Manuel obtained a U.S. visa and left Angola.
A letter from Seventh-day Adventists in Luanda, Angola, included in court records states that the church bought him a round-trip plane ticket but doesn't explain why. It's unclear why a local church, which is poor, would pay for ticket to the U.S., Graz said.
There are some 250,000 thousand Seventh-day Adventists in Angola, including a high-ranking government official. And the country's residents have the freedom to worship as they choose, Graz said.
"I've never seen any restriction against freedom of religion," he said. "Even during the difficult time ... we were not especially targeted by the government."
But that doesn't mean a person can't have a problem with the government, Graz said while pointing out Angola's poor human rights record.
A State Department report released last year says Angolan government security forces tortured, beat and abused people. Police and other security personnel were rarely held accountable for the abuse despite laws against it, the report said.
"I love my county but I can't return to my county because the MPLA (ruling party) would certainly torture me and kill me," reads a Portuguese declaration by Manuel.