Ugandan lesbian to be deported from UK

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/23/ugandan-lesbian-deported-uk-aidah-asaba

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A Ugandan lesbian fears immediate imprisonment because of her sexuality when she is deported from the UK on Saturday.

Aidah Asaba, who is being detained at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, told the Guardian she came to the UK in October "running for her life" since a Ugandan newspaper, the Daily Monitor, had published her name in a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans it wanted to "shame".

In March, Uganda passed an Anti-Homosexuality Act which allows authorities to arrest and imprison those who have same-sex relationships. The Ugandan government also banned the "promotion" of homosexuality.

Asaba said she could not count on her family, local community or friends to protect her. "I didn't have friends supporting me. They weren't very trusted. They betrayed me." Of her family, she said: "They never supported me. They are against me."

Asaba, who has been at Yarl's Wood for the past three months, claimed asylum in October 2013, but this was rejected because, her supporters say, the Home Office thought it lacked credibility. Once at Yarl's Wood, she was visited by members of a detainee support group run from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas). Volunteers from the group began liaising with Ugandan LGBT rights activists to gather statements attesting to Asaba's sexuality and the potential threat she faces by returning to Uganda.

Asaba has changed her solicitor and appealed against the decision to reject her asylum claim. She is waiting to hear whether this has been successful. In the meantime, the Home Office has sent her a ticket home. Her case has been taken up by Crispin Blunt, Conservative MP for Reigate and the chair of Kaleidoscope Trust, which campaigns for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the world. In a letter to Theresa May, the home secretary, Blunt wrote that if Aidah was deported, she faced a "lethal threat". "Ms Asaba has clearly endured a highly traumatic experience both in Uganda and shamefully in the UK – the least we can do is offer her the opportunity of appeal," he wrote.

A member of the Soas detainee support group, who has been visiting Asaba each week, has started a petition to halt the deportation. It has so far received more than 2,100 signatures.

A Home Office spokeswoman said the department did not usually comment on individual cases. "The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and we consider every claim for asylum on its individual merits," she said.

"We believe that those with no right to be in the UK should return to their home country and we will help those who wish to leave voluntarily. However, when they refuse to do so we will take steps to enforce their removal at the earliest opportunity."

The Ugandan gay activist David Kato was found bludgeoned to death in Kampala in 2011 after being named as gay in one of the country's tabloid newspapers.

In 2010, the government said gay and lesbian asylum seekers had the right not to be deported from the UK if they would be persecuted in their home countries.

The supreme court unanimously allowed appeals from two men, from Cameroon and Iran, whose claims had earlier been turned down because officials had said they could hide their sexuality by behaving discreetly. The government accepted the ruling and said that policy on gay and lesbian asylum seekers would be changed with immediate effect.