uk home office attempts to deport gay ugandan torture victim

By www.outrage.co.uk

October 7, 2005: London - Ugandan gay rights activist Kizza Musinguzi, aged 25, was jailed by the Ugandan government for his gay human rights work and subjected to four months of forced labour, water torture, beatings and rape, from May to September 2004.

The Home Office wants to deport him on the grounds that it claims this abuse does not constitute persecution. It says Mr Musinguzi is a not a legitimate asylum seeker and does not qualify as a genuine refugee.

In Harmondsworth asylum detention centre in west London, Mr Musinguzi alleges that staff racially and homophobically abused him as a "nigger" and "batty boy", denied him medical treatment for the effects of rape and torture, forced him through the asylum system without legal representation, confiscated his asylum papers and asthma inhaler, subjected him to the sexual abuse of an unwarranted internal anal examination, and attempted to deport him without serving him with a removal order.

Mr Musinguzi is fighting deportation with legal support and advice from the LGBT human rights group OutRage!

Peter Tatchell of OutRage! drafted an application to halt Mr Musinguzi's unlawful deportation on 21 September. This was forwarded to Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty MP, and endorsed by Harmondworth Labour MP, John McDonnell. Mr McDonnell's intervention resulted in Mr Musinguzi's deportation being stopped just as he was about to be put on a plane at Heathrow airport.

Mr Musinguzi comes from a political dissident family. His father was murdered by the Ugandan security services in November 1997, after seeking election in a constituency contested by a government Minister who is now the second deputy Prime Minister, Henry Kajura. His mother and sister were arrested in February 2001 because of their work for the Ugandan opposition movement, the Reform Agenda. They have never been seen or heard of since they were seized.

Fearing for his life, Mr Musinguzi fled to Britain and claimed asylum. He was placed in detention at Harmondsworth asylum removal centre in west London on 5 May 2005.

The Home Office forced Mr Musinguzi through the asylum system without legal representation. Having no solicitor and no knowledge of the UK legal system, and being detained and unable to gather evidence to support his asylum claim, he failed at every hearing. He was forced to represent himself in an appeal against refusal of asylum and to write his own application for a statutory review of his case.

The Home Office then fast-tracked Mr Musinguzi for deportation as a failed asylum seeker.

Desperate for legal help, Mr Musingizi appointed Peter Tatchell of the gay human rights group OutRage! as his legal representative, as he is entitled to do. He instructed Mr Tatchell to submit a fresh claim for asylum, based on new evidence gathered by an independent researcher, which confirms widespread homophobic persecution in Uganda. Mr Tatchell submitted this fresh asylum claim on 15 September.

The Harmondsworth Fast Rack Office refused to accept Mr Tatchell as his legal representative and refused to accept the fresh claim. They actively blocked attempts by Mr Musinguzi to confirm that Mr Tatchell was acting on his instructions.

On 21 September, the Home Office attempted to deport Mr Musinguzi, despite his fresh claim for asylum based on new evidence and despite the fact that he was never served with a removal order.

Mr Tatchell contacted Harmondsworth's Labour MP, John McDonnell, who got the deportation order stopped just as Mr Musinguizi was being frog-marched onto a flight to Uganda.

Mr Musinguzi is now being held at Colnbrook detention centre in west London; still under threat of deportation.

During his five months detention in Harmondsworth, Mr Musinguzi was denied medical screening, treatment and counselling for the effects of rape and torture - despite suffering from intense pain in his groin and bleeding when defecating.

He alleges that Harmondsworth staff subjected him to racist, homophobic and sexual abuse, including an unwarranted and unexplained strip-search and internal anal examination, which echoed the abuse he suffered in Uganda.

Staff allegedly insulted him with taunts like "come here nigger" and "batty boy".

Staff at Harmondaworth confiscated Mr Musinguzi's asthma inhaler soon after his arrival, causing him months of breathing difficulties and great distress. They also confiscated all his papers relating to his asylum claim.

In a letter to the Home Office minister, Tony McNulty MP (copy below), dated 22 September, Mr Tatchell states:

"I respectfully request that any action to remove Mr Musinguzi from the United Kingdom be suspended, pending his securing of professional legal representation, the formal presentation of the new evidence by Mr Musinguzi's new solicitors, an assessment of Mr Musinguzi by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, the administration of appropriate medical treatment, and an investigation of his claims of abuse by staff at Harmondsworth."

Commenting on Mr Musinguzi's treatment by the Home Office, Mr Tatchell
Said that "Mr Musinguzi's fast-tracking through the asylum system without legal representation is typical of the way many asylum applicants are denied a fair hearing. We know from our experience that very few asylum claimants receive adequate legal representation. The fast track system is fundamentally flawed. It's aim is to deport as many asylum seekers as quickly as possible; usually with scant regard to the merit of individual cases.

"Harmondsworth is an often lawless place where the human rights of asylum seekers are systematically abused without redress. Staff can make potentially life and death decisions without any proper checks and balances against the violation of an asylum seeker's legal, medical and emotional welfare.

"The entire asylum system needs reform to ensure that every asylum claimant gets adequate legal representation and medical attention.We thank Labour MP John McDonnell for his help in getting Mr Musinguzi's deportation halted last week."