Ugandan gay sues UK over deportation
Jun 03, 2009
THE British government is facing legal action after it forcibly deported a gay Ugandan asylum-seeker when his case was still under review. John Bosco Nyombi is now seeking damages from the government after British judges ruled that his removal was “man
By Vision Reporter
THE British government is facing legal action after it forcibly deported a gay Ugandan asylum-seeker when his case was still under review.
John Bosco Nyombi is now seeking damages from the government after British judges ruled that his removal was “manifestly unlawful†and ordered his return.
Speaking for the first time since arriving back in the UK, Nyombi told The Independent newspaper: “The last year has been torture. I’ve never done anything wrong and what the Home Office did was illegal. All the things I went through are because of them.†The 38-year-old first fled to Britain in 2001, claiming that being gay put his life in danger in Uganda.
His case was still under review when on September 18, 2008 he was taken by four security men and bundled on to a flight to Entebbe Airport.
When he tried to resist and asked for a lawyer, the British officers allegedly dragged him by the handcuffs and struck him in the groin and shoulder.
Just two days earlier, Nyombi’s face had been on the front page of a Ugandan newspaper “outing†him as a homosexual and reporting on his fight to stay in the UK.
“Within moments of his arrival in Kampala, he was abandoned by the British officers, leaving him to be interrogated by border Police who had seen the article,†the British media said.
“He managed to escape a first arrest after paying a bribe. He then endured six months in hiding before the Home Secretary secured his release, getting caught twice and put into prison where he was violently beaten by both staff and inmates for his sexuality.â€
Nyombi, who was known as “Mr X†while his lawyers fought to take him back to the UK, is back in Southampton staying with a friend. Once his immigration papers come through, his old job as a caretaker in a local nursing home is waiting for him.
THE British government is facing legal action after it forcibly deported a gay Ugandan asylum-seeker when his case was still under review.
John Bosco Nyombi is now seeking damages from the government after British judges ruled that his removal was “manifestly unlawful†and ordered his return.
Speaking for the first time since arriving back in the UK, Nyombi told The Independent newspaper: “The last year has been torture. I’ve never done anything wrong and what the Home Office did was illegal. All the things I went through are because of them.†The 38-year-old first fled to Britain in 2001, claiming that being gay put his life in danger in Uganda.
His case was still under review when on September 18, 2008 he was taken by four security men and bundled on to a flight to Entebbe Airport.
When he tried to resist and asked for a lawyer, the British officers allegedly dragged him by the handcuffs and struck him in the groin and shoulder.
Just two days earlier, Nyombi’s face had been on the front page of a Ugandan newspaper “outing†him as a homosexual and reporting on his fight to stay in the UK.
“Within moments of his arrival in Kampala, he was abandoned by the British officers, leaving him to be interrogated by border Police who had seen the article,†the British media said.
“He managed to escape a first arrest after paying a bribe. He then endured six months in hiding before the Home Secretary secured his release, getting caught twice and put into prison where he was violently beaten by both staff and inmates for his sexuality.â€
Nyombi, who was known as “Mr X†while his lawyers fought to take him back to the UK, is back in Southampton staying with a friend. Once his immigration papers come through, his old job as a caretaker in a local nursing home is waiting for him.