Protest October 2025 (Photographer Simone Rudolphi Photography).
“No one is illegal. This was never just about one woman, it was about freedom, solidarity without borders, and ending detention for all.”
The Campaign
Maggy Moyo launched the #FreeFatou campaign in response to Fatou’s detention at Hassockfield, highlighting the wider injustice of indefinite immigration detention faced by migrant women. Maggy led the campaign as a lived experience organiser, with These Walls Must Fall at Right to Remain. She worked alongside grassroots and national organisations including No to Hassockfield, Manchester Resist Deportations, Solidarity Knows No Borders, Medical Justice, 4Wings and others.
The campaign began through urgent mobilisation, sharing Fatou’s story, organising protests, and building national pressure. Her strategies included coordinated demonstrations, rapid-response actions to stop deportation, storytelling, coalition-building, and direct advocacy with MPs.
This work took place during a period of far-right hostility, where communities faced increased threats and attempts to silence their voices. Despite this, Maggy continued organising, ensuring lived experience voices remained visible and leading. The campaign grew into a wider movement globally, steering conversations in Canada, the US, and Australia about challenging detention systems.
CREDIT: Maggy Moyo
Being shortlisted for Campaigner of the Year is something I deeply appreciate. I’m proud to have led the #FreeFatou campaign, but this recognition belongs to a powerful collective. I want to acknowledge These Walls Must Fall campaigners, who fought tirelessly as lived experience leaders, and No to Hassockfield, who stood in strong allyship throughout. Fatou reminded us that “this fight is not only for me, but for the amazing women still detained who don’t know when they will be released.” That truth grounded our work. We organised this campaign during a time of rising far-right hostility, where many of us faced threats and pressure to stay silent, but we refused. This nomination reflects the power of lived experience leadership in challenging hostile detention policies, and strengthens my commitment to building Unified Resilience to support others to lead change nationally.”
Maggy Moyo
Campaigns Lead and Migrants Community Organiser, Right to Remain
The Change
The #FreeFatou campaign achieved significant and measurable impact. Most importantly, collective action helped stop Fatou’s deportation multiple times and contributed to her release, demonstrating the power of sustained public pressure and lived experience-led organising.
The campaign also exposed the realities of women’s detention, including indefinite timelines, isolation, and severe mental health impacts. By amplifying Fatou’s voice, Maggy highlighted that her case reflected a wider systemic issue affecting many women still detained without certainty or support.
Despite taking place during a period of heightened far-right hostility, where organisers and communities experienced threats, fear, and attempts to silence them, Maggy continued to mobilise nationally. This resilience strengthened the movement and ensured the campaign remained visible and impactful.
The campaign brought together grassroots and national organisations, increasing political engagement and building pressure for alternatives to detention. It also shifted power by creating space for lived experience leadership, influencing both public awareness and ongoing resistance to detention.
The Future
The #FreeFatou campaign continues as part of a wider national movement to end immigration detention. Evidence and lived experience show that detention causes lasting harm, wastes public resources, and undermines human dignity.
Maggy’s focus is not only on Hassockfield, but on challenging detention systems across the UK. “We are working collectively to push for policy change, including alternatives to detention that prioritise community-based support and human rights,” says Maggy. “At the centre of this work is lived experience leadership, ensuring those most impacted are shaping solutions. This is about more than one campaign; it is about building a more humane and just system for all.”
Who else was involved?
These Walls Must Fall, No to Hassockfield, Manchester Resist Deportations, Solidarity Knows No Borders, Medical Justice, Right to Remain, 4Wings, Migrants Organise, Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST), and Refugee Women Connect.
