Ugandan asylum seeker has Heathrow deportation flight cancelled
The deportation flight of a female asylum seeker to Uganda has been cancelled with just hours to spare against Friday’s deadline.
Campaign group Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary (MFJ) have been fighting against the removal of an asylum seeker who goes by the name of Christine.
MFJ has made parallels with the case of Jackie Nanyonjo, a lesbian who was deported back to Uganda in January; she died in March in the African country.
MFJ claims Christine was subjected to sexual abuse in Uganda and allegedly gave birth to her father’s child.
According to MFJ, Christine was due to be deported to Uganda on Friday 28 March at 7pm onboard a Kenya Airlines flight from London’s Heathrow Airport.
However, on Thursday evening, MFJ announced that the flight had been “cancelled” – for the seventh time – with the group claiming that lobbying efforts at Kenya’s embassy had been successful.
MFJ said Labour MP John McDonnell “made a strong intervention and the barrister who intervened relied strongly on all of the public pressure and publicity to getting interim relief meaning that there will be no flight on Friday.”
It added: “The actions that everyone took were essential to this victory, we must continue to keep up the pressure on the Home Office for Christine’s immediate release”.
Campaigners have frequently documented alleged cases of UKBA deporting LGBT asylum seekers back to countries where they face homophobic persecution.
The claims have always been denied by UKBA and the Home Office.
