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URGENT ACTION NOW to stop new attempt to deport lesbian and victim of family sexual abuse to Uganda Remember Jackie Nanyonjo! Take action today!
The Home Office is trying again to deport lesbian asylum seeker Prossie N to Uganda. The last time they tried to deport her, in November, she resisted with such strength and determination that the Ethiopian Airlines pilot refused to allow any passengers to board the plane until the ‚escorts‘ took her off.
They were trying to deport her even though her health had not improved since a flight in October was cancelled because she was so clearly she unfit to fly. After two more months in Yarl’s Wood detention centre Prossie’s health has deteriorated further and she has had an assessment by Medical Justice, but the UKBA wants to deport her again on Thursday 12th December – this time on Kenya Airways.
Prossie is 20 years old and was a victim of sexual abuse and rape by her uncle from the age of 8 (her parents died when she was young). She was taken out of school at 13 and after her sexuality was exposed when she was 15 she was moving about and living on the streets for much of the time. A married woman with whom she had a secret relationship got her a passport & visa through an agent who brought her to Britain from Uganda in September 2010. She has had several lesbian relationships since she arrived and was arrested in a UKBA raid on the house where she was living on 21st July – she was taken to Yarl’s Wood, claimed asylum and her case was put on ‚Fast Track‘ and refused while she had little opportunity to contact potential witnesses.
Prossie faces certain persecution and the likelihood of imprisonment and torture if she is returned to Uganda. There is no family she can turn to for support or protection. She has made a home in Britain and has a circle of friends – gay and straight – in London’s Ugandan community; they are coming forward as witnesses for Prossie, but she is a victim of an unjust, inhuman and racist system that treats all asylum seekers as criminals until they can prove that they are not lying.
No More Deportation Deaths or Brutality!
In January another lesbian held in Yarl’s Wood, Movement for Justice member Jackie Nanyanjo, was deported to Uganda. Jackie was so brutalised by her ‚escorts‘ on a Qatar Airways flight that she died as a consequence several weeks later. Soon after Jackie’s death fellow lesbian Mary K was taken from Yarl’s Wood detention centre and forced onto Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Uganda – the same airline the UKBA want to put Prossie on! Mary was subjected to the same brutal ‚restraint‘ tactics used against Jackie, but fortunately the Movement for Justice was able to arrange for a Ugandan refugee rights worker to meet her. The worker reported:
„Mary K. arrived this morning…. she was mistreated and excessive force applied on her by four escorts from Tascor. This happened while she was at the holding facility at Heathrow, at the time of boarding the plane and during transit. Her handcuffs were tightly secured which has caused her hands to swell, her legs were shackled, she was shoved around, one of the escorts grabbed and pulled her by the hair, which came off as a result of the force applied, she was held by the neck and mouth, she now has pains around her throat and sustained a cut above her lip, she was elbowed in the chest and is in pain. We drove straight to a Hospital where she is currently receiving treatment.“
This brutality must stop. No-one else must die like Jackie Nanyonjo. We must take urgent action to stop this brutality. Prossie’s deportation must be cancelled, she must be released from Yarl’s Wood and granted asylum.
KQ101 is a death flight for LGBT Ugandans!
Bombard Kenya Airlways with phone calls, voicemail messages, e-mails and faxes demanding that they immediately cancel Prossie N’s ticket for Flights KQ101/KQ410 at 19.00hrs on Thursday 12th December.
Remind them what happened to Jackie. Remind them of the refugee rights worker’s words, „This happened… during transit“. They could have said NO and since they didn’t, they are complicit in the assault and injury of Mary K. They must say NO this time.
If they give you a problem about not using her surname, this is for her safety and protection should the deportation go ahead. It is enough that they have her first name, her surname initial and the fact she is a deportee (this argument is simply a red herring)
Please use or adapt any part/s of this message in your e-mails or faxes if you wish.
Quote Prossie’s Home Office reference: N0157846.
CONTACTING KENYA AIRWAYS
Central Office: 020 8283 1800 Heathrow Office: 020 8759 7366 Passenger reservations: 020 8283 1818
Email: UKres@kenya-airways.com
Fax: 020 8283 1880
https://www.facebook.com/PrideofAfrica https://twitter.com/KenyaAirways
Kenya Airways is Kenya’s national ‚Flag Carrier‘ – Contact the Kenyan High Commission in London – Ask them to tell Kenya Air that they should not be flying Prossie to Uganda – to do so will make their government complicit. Telephone: 020 7636 2371/5 Fax: 020 7323 6717 E-mail: info@kenyahighcommission.net
DEMAND THE HOME OFFICE STOPS PROSSIE’S DEPORTATION Fax/Email the Home Office – Demand that Prossie’s removal is cancelled and that she is released from Yarl’s Wood.
Home Secretary Theresa May: mayt@parliament.uk Fax: 020 7219 1145
Immigration Minister: ministerforimmigration@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
And copy to the following Home Office & UKBA addresses: citto@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; ukbapublicenquiries@ukba.gsi.gov.uk |
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Movement for Justice…
We march today, we march tomorrow, and we keep marching to build a new Britain: diverse, integrated and equal. We aim to win. We tell the truth about racism, sexism and anti-gay bigotry and the growing inequalities within our society. We believe that every human being is entitled to a job, to education, to food, shelter and the other necessities of life, so that every one of us can live in dignity, proud to be who we are, encouraged and able to fulfill our hopes and aspirations.
Join MFJ at www.movementforjustice.org
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