Nigerian Gay Asylum Seeker Faces Deportation From UK
A Nigerian asylum seeker who fled to Britain to avoid prosecution for being gay is facing deportation after being held for six months in an immigration detention centre.
Adeniyi Raji, 43,who claimed he received death threats on social media and was sacked by his employer in Lagos for being gay, said he fled Nigeria, and arrived at Heathrow airport in November.
He claimed asylum and was immediately detained, and held at Harmondsworth and Tinsley House detention centres. He was recently given bail and released from detention.
“I decided to come to the UK to seek refuge and humanitarian protection because my life was in danger in Nigeria,” he told the Guardian.
“I was attacked on several occasions. [My] ex-wife caught me and my former partner in bed. As soon as she saw us, she immediately raised the alarm. People gathered and started beating us severely. After that, she divorced me.”
“The Nigerian police started publishing my pictures and my name in the Nigerian national dailies,” he added. “They kept saying that anyone who has useful information that could lead to my arrest should come forward [so that I can] face the wrath of the land as a result of my sexual orientations.”
Threats against him on on social media in Nigeria included comments such as: “I really wish you were killed that very day …”, “You know gay practice is an abomination in our land …”, and “You better stop your gay practice, if not you could get yourself killed in this country.”
A first-tier immigration tribunal has rejected his asylum application. He is appealing against that decision.
Bisi Alimi, who runs a UK-based campaign supporting LGBT rights in Nigeria, criticised the Home Office’s treatment of gay asylum seekers.
“They are often treated as liars. It becomes their responsibility to prove that they are gay and that that will put their lives at risk,” he said.
“In Nigeria, people put a tyre around your neck and burn you, and no one cares; or beat you until you die, and no one cares. The Home Office doesn’t believe in the impact of threats from non-state actors.
“Most of the time it’s difficult to prove [anyone is gay] because they live their private lives in hiding. Most don’t have a life history [of being openly gay]. There’s been an increase in the number of Nigerians seeking asylum in the UK on the basis of their sexuality.”
Raji’s solicitor, Bhaveshri Patel-Chandegra, an immigration specialist at the law firm Duncan Lewis, said, “the court has looked at his case and nullified all his evidence that he is at serious risk if removed to Nigeria but there’s been no evidence that his documents aren’t genuine.”
A Home Office spokesperson said, “the UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and each claim is carefully considered on its individual merits.
“We have worked closely with organisations and charities, including Stonewall, the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group, and the UN high commissioner for refugees to improve our guidance and training for asylum caseworkers.”
(The Guardian)
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