U.K. Deports Two Gay Asylum Seekers Despite Protests
British gay news site Pink News has followed the story of two gay asylum seekers who have been deported to their home countries in what critics call "illegal" repatriations that put both men at risk.
In a Sept. 21 article, Pink News recapped how gay refugee John Nyombi had been put aboard a plane and flown back to Entebbe, Uganda, where homosexuality is not only against the law, it can be punished with life in prison.
Moreover, violence against gays in that country recently triggered an action alert by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
And an Azerbaijani national, Babakhan Badalov, was sent back to his country of origin, where homosexuality is not illegal, but where, he claimed, his sexuality and outspoken critique of the government made him a target.
In both cases, supporters of the men said that the government had broken its own laws, with Nyombi's lawyers calling their client's deportation "an illegal act of the UK Border Agency," and advocates for Badalov saying that the UK Border Agency altered their details against Badalov just before removing him from the country, and, moreover, did so on a Saturday, when the action would not draw immediate scrutiny.
Further, Badalov's supporters claim, the gay refugee was addressed abusively by one Border Agency officer, who reportedly told Badalov, "You make us sick," adding, "you're going back where you belong."
As Pink News reported in an earlier article at Pink News, Badalov's supporters had prevailed on an Azerbaijani airline to refuse to fly him back.
A British carrier, BMI, took him back instead, leading to calls of boycott against the company.
An advocacy group called gayasylumuk issued a condemnation of the men's removal, calling on "Gay and lesbian Labour voters in particular consider changing their vote if the policy [regarding gay refugees] isn't changed before the next election."
Added the group, "This is one way to get the message through on their hypocrisy regarding lesbian and gay rights issues--when embassies in other countries are flying the rainbow flag they aren't doing this in Tehran, Kingston or Kampala," a reference, Pink News said, to British embassies in eastern Europe hoisting rainbow flags during local Pride celebrations.
Pink News reported that Badalov had come to the UK in 2006, claiming that his sexuality and his criticism of the government had put his life in danger.
Badalov, a writer and poet of international acclaim, lost his case for asylum in July.
In another Sept. 19 item Pink News detailed how John Nyombi had fled Uganda and lived in the UK since 2002, working in the mental health field and applying for asylum status on the basis that gays are arrested and face violent persecution in his home country.
This year, as part of a wedding speech, Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, denounced homosexuality as "negative foreign culture," and proclaimed that the point of human life was procreation, Pink News reported.
The article also noted that during President Museveni's tenure, gays had been fleeing Uganda as persecution against them intensified.
The article quoted The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission as stating, "In the past five years, the government has arrested LGBT people on sodomy charges, harassed LGBT human rights defenders, and fined a private radio station that broadcast programming on HIV prevention and men who have sex with men."
Continued the Commission, "In July 2005, Uganda's Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution making Uganda only the second country in the world to use its constitution to outlaw marriage between people of the same sex.
"A coalition of religious leaders has marched through the streets of Kampala demanding the arrests of LGBT people with one cleric even calling for the 'starving to death' of homosexuals."
Added the Commission, "Inspired by the official homophobia of the state, the Ugandan media has published lists of gay men and lesbians, leading to physical violence, loss of employment and educational opportunities by LGBT people."
In the UK, supporters of gay refugees decried comments made by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who suggested that gays who conduct themselves in a "discreet" manner would be safe in countries where gays are persecuted and subject to arrest, torture, and even execution.
The Liberal Democrats met in a conference on the issue, spurred by Nyombi's deportation, and issued a motion reading, "Conference calls on the government to halt the deportation of people to countries where their sexual orientation or gender identification may mean that they are threatened with the risk of imprisonment, torture, or even execution."
That party now seeks to end the repatriations of gay and lesbian asylum seekers who face the risk of persecution if returned to their home countries.
Pink News quoted Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Affairs spokesperson, who said, "It is totally unacceptable for Britain to be deporting people to countries where they will face persecution, torture or death merely because of their sexual orientation."
"This country has a proud tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing tyranny and oppression."
Added Huhne, "It is about time that practice was extended to gay and lesbian people escaping deeply unpleasant homophobic regimes."
Pink News was told by the director of public affairs for British GLBT equality group Stonewall, Derek Munn, "Stonewall is pleased that the Liberal Democrats have put an issue of concern to lesbian and gay people center stage on their conference agenda."
Added Munn, "In passing the motion they have reflected the widespread concern that lesbian and gay asylum seekers should be dealt with fairly and compassionately."
Supporters of Nyombi said that since arriving in Uganda, he has been in hiding from that country's police.