Global LGBT Rights Advocate Omar Kuddus on Freda Nsumba: A Story, and a Plea

Sept. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Omar Kuddus makes public plea on behalf of UK lesbian facing deportation:

Freda is a Ugandan lesbian who faces persecution, arrest and abuse if she is to be returned to Uganda as she has been issued a ticket for Qatar Airways by UKBA (United Kingdom Border Agency).

Freda was granted an injunction on her earlier flight on Saturday (22 September) because her application for judicial review was considered and dismissed by a judge before he had all the new evidence in front of him (he looked at the case before the deadline) so there is a 'Renewing application for JR' which means an injunction to stop he flight was granted

GayAsylumUK is asking that people contact the airline, Qatar Airways: Phone 0208 846 8380, Fax 0161 838 5398 and request that the airline refuses to transport her, and in effect stop her deportation.

In addition they are requesting that the UKBA are contacted (+44) 870-606-7766 and citing her Home Office Ref: N1056934 demand that this deportation is terminated.
UKBA state that the “UK has a proud tradition of providing a place of safety for genuine refugees” and that asylum is “protection given by a country to someone who is fleeing persecution in their own country. It is given under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. To be recognised as a refugee, you must have left your country and be unable to go back because you have a well-founded fear of persecution.”

Freda qualifies under this guideline as she has a “well-founded fear of persecution” and The UKBA and is requested not to allow this miscarriage of justice to occur.

Home Secretary Theresa May can be contacted at Tel: 020 7219 5206 Fax: 020 7219 1145  and she has been asked to show “compassion” and to not deport Freda and allow this “travesty” to occur by GayAsylumUK.

Rt Hon Theresa May MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA mayt@parliament.uk
Email or Fax the new Minister of state for Immigration - Mark Harper: email fod@gloucestershireconservatives.com, fax 0845 0090109, phone 01452 371630

Horrific Tale of abuse,  humiliation

Freda told GayAsylumUK her personal story:

"My name is Freda Nsumba. I am currently in the detention centre of Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire. My home office reference no is; N1129180/2, Port Ref; ASC/4071864. I am a lesbian from Uganda.

"I have been detained for almost three months now and in my second week of detention, I was bullied and threatened by my former roommate whom I did report to the staff but nothing major was done, furthermore me and several other lesbians have had various homophobic attacks whilst in detention…. I feel like am being treated like a criminal; I feel like my sexual orientation is being assessed like a condition or sickness like it is a matter of debate.  I am not happy and I feel that I am facing the same problems that I have been running away from all my life, I have never been accepted and this is what am facing now. "

I first discovered that I was a lesbian when I was in boarding school when I was around the age of 16 years old. The school found out in 2003 while doing my final year of ‘O’ levels and reported me with my then girlfriend to our respective families as same sex relationships were prohibited at school and it was a taboo in the community at large.

On my family finding out, I was subject to severe beatings all over and on my legs as well for months, corporal punishments like walking on my knees until they bled, I was subject to ritual traditional  inhuman rituals like being forced to drink dead cock’s and goats blood and washing me in it, touching of my private hands[ parts] with muddy hands and praying funny words that I did not understand as they thought that I was “possessed”, I was publicly humiliated and bullied in the whole community at large and branded as an outcast, it was such a horrible and dark time for me and could not cope with all this mental and physical torture that I was going through.

However some of the scars have become less visible with time over the years. My family had threatened that they would stop looking after me and paying my school fees, I had nowhere to run to or to report all this inhumanness and was fully dependant on my family that forced me to denounce and convince my family that I was no longer gay. Being young I did not know any other way out and had to live a life of a lie; hiding my sexuality; I was really made to feel abnormal. I completely lost my confidence and self-esteem as well as my self-worth."


Having convincing her family that she was straight, they funded her to come to the UK to study in 2007. She tells GayAsylumUK that her confidence and self-esteem was shattered and that she found it impossible to form any meaningful relationships or friendships during this time because of her depression and anxiety.

 This changed when just over a year ago she met her current partner, who helped her regain her confidence and feel more comfortable in her sexuality.

   "In May 2012, I called UKBA to make an appointment for an asylum screening interview which was made for Monday 25th June. I attended my asylum screening interview at Croydon (Lunar house) at 9.00a.m whereby I gave a brief history of my case and why I was seeking asylum. I did hand in all the documents that the lawyer had advised me to hand in and I was immediately detained and my case immediately put into Fast-Track by the UKBA saying that my case was straightforward and can be dealt with quickly; secondly he said that my country is “safe” and those were the reasons that I was given for detaining me. I arrived at Yarl’s wood in the early hours of Tuesday morning after being driven around and around with no food and not much to drink for all those hours going to bed at around 5a.m.

   I had my Fast-Track asylum interview at 2p.m on Friday 29th June 2012 and was given the decision Tuesday 3rd July in the afternoon. I appealed against the decision and was given a court hearing on 13th July 2012 which my girlfriend also attended to give testimony from which I got a negative decision that I had been refused (they do not believe that I am a lesbian). And with the lawyers; being in fast-Track process they demanded £2000 per appeal hearing excluding all the other money that I’ve paid before, I was shocked at the amount of money they were demanding,  I felt that they really didn’t have my interests at heart. "


Freda then went through the agonising process of refusal after refusal with inadequate representation, to a point where she found herself trying to appeal on her own behalf.
Freda was given a ticket to be deported to Uganda on 3rd August 2012.

 
[...]



Freda has now been able to obtain legal counsel to defend her application for asylum.
GSN ran the story:

Bullied, beaten, abused and ‘exorcised’

Ugandan lesbian asylum seeker Freda Nsumba pleads for help to halt her deportation from the UK

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/bullied-beaten-abused-...

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