At an earlier hearing, 22-year-old Michael Wright from Swindon admitted trying to sell his own sister, who had learning difficulties, into a marriage with a Chinese immigrant.

Wright was arrested by our officers from the South East region immigration crime team on 20 August 2009 as he arrived with his sister at Reading register office for the ‘ceremony’ with would-be groom Ligang Qiao, 29.

Li Fan, 33, and her boyfriend Bing Liu, 30, were arrested at their home on Erleigh Road in Reading on the same day, as part of an operation led by Thames Valley Police officers seconded to us.

Wright had met the other three members of the gang when they all worked at the same Berkshire burger bar. In 2008, he married Fan in another sham marriage, for which he was paid £4,000.

He then plotted with the other three to allow Qiao to marry his sister in exchange for £8,000, in an attempt to aid Qiao’s application to stay in the UK once his visa ran out.

Their plan was foiled when a registrar raised doubts about the proposed wedding and reported it to us.

At a hearing in November, Wright pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting unlawful entry into the UK and two counts of perjury, while Ligang Qiao admitted two counts of perjury.

Li Fan also admitted two counts of perjury and obtaining leave to remain in the UK by deception, while Bing Liu pleaded guilty to attempting to assist illegal immigration into the UK.

Wright was jailed for four years, while Qiao was given a 15-month sentence. Fan and Liu received 18 months and two years respectively. The three Chinese nationals were also recommended for deportation at the end of their sentences.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins of the UK Border Agency’s London and South East region immigration crime team said:

‘This was a despicable crime. Michael Wright attempted to exploit a member of his own family for his own financial gain. His motive was purely greed.

‘The other members of the gang also sought to take advantage of a vulnerable woman for their own benefit.

‘The sentences handed down today show how seriously we, and the courts, take these kinds of attempts to undermine our immigration laws.

‘My officers and I are determined to track down and stop this kind of abuse, and we hope today’s sentences send out a message that anyone who tries to enter into or organise a sham marriage faces arrest, prosecution and a long time in prison.

‘Foreign nationals who commit this type of crime will also face deportation.’

All allegations regarding any type of sham marriage – including marriage for cash, bigamy and marriage to relatives – are investigated. Where evidence can be obtained, appropriate action is taken.

UK Border Agency area director Gareth Redmond said:

‘I’m pleased with today’s sentences, and it shows once again the success the UK Border Agency is having in stopping this sort of abuse.

‘We now have specialist teams of immigration officers and police working side by side to investigate and prosecute these kinds of cases.

‘This case shows there are now heavy penalties for those who try and abuse the marriage route.’

Via

Open Letter

Prague, January 6, 2010

Your Excellency,

On December 23, the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court – after holding him for over a year without trial – sentenced respected intellectual and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”

Mr. President, we would like you to know that we do not consider this trial an independent judicial process in which neither you nor your government can interfere. In fact, it is just the opposite. Mr. Liu’s trial was the result of a political order for which you carry ultimate political responsibility. We are convinced that this trial and harsh sentence meted out to a respected, well-known, and prominent citizen of your country merely for thinking and speaking critically about various political and social issues was chiefly meant as a stern warning to others not to follow his path.

Thirty-three years ago, on January 6th, 1977, we, playwright Vaclav Havel, actor Pavel Landovsky, and writer Ludvik Vaculik, were arrested by the police in our own country, then a one-party Communist state, for “committing” exactly the same “crime”: the drafting of Charter 77 and collection of signatures with the intent to call on our own government to respect our country’s constitution, its international obligations, and basic civic and human rights. Later, some of us were also sentenced to long prison terms in politically ordained judicial proceedings, just as the court in Beijing shamefully sentenced Mr. Liu Xiaobo in December 2009.

We strongly believe, and we dare to remind you and your Government, that there is nothing subversive to state security when intellectuals, artists, writers and academics exercise their core vocation: to think, re-think, ask questions, criticize, act creatively, and try to initiate open dialogue. On the contrary, the present and future well-being of a society is undermined when governments suppress intellectual debate.

There is nothing subversive to state security or damaging to future prosperity when citizens act guided by their own will and according to their best knowledge and conscience, when they associate among themselves to discuss and express peacefully their concerns and visions about the future development of their society.

On the contrary, a country’s material and spiritual future is undermined when its citizens are not allowed to act, associate, think and speak freely.

This is why we call upon you and your Government to secure a fair and genuinely open trial for Liu Xiaobo when the court hears his appeal.

We are also asking you and your Government to end the house arrests and police surveillance which have been imposed on other Charter 08 signatories. We call upon you and your Government to end the criminalization of free speech and to release all prisoners of conscience.

Mr. President, we would like you to know that we will continue to watch carefully the treatment of Mr. Liu Xiaobo and other signatories of Charter 08. We will, together with many of our colleagues from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who signed the original Charter 77, make continued and sustained efforts to draw international attention to their plight.

With regards,

Vaclav Havel, playwright

Pavel Landovsky, autor

Vaclav Maly, Bishop of Prague