Gay Ugandan asylum seeker’s cry for help
A gay Ugandan asylum seeker is making a desperate plea for help just days before he is deported home where he claims his life is at risk.
After two failed attempts by the UK Border Agency to deport 41-year-old Felix Wamala, once on 24 December 2011 and again on 2 January, he has been booked on a Virgin flight back to Uganda on Friday (4 May).
Wamala is currently being held at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow airport, west London.
He told Gay Star News he fled Uganda after being persecuted for his sexuality and is afraid of what might happen to him if he returns.
He said: ‘I don’t consider myself any different from anyone else in Uganda who is gay.
‘The ones who are there, maybe they have found a way of living but most people are in hiding.
‘I don’t know that many people in Uganda who can shelter me and I cannot even see myself passing the airport security.’
Uganda is one of the worst countries for gay people to live in Africa. A 'kill the gays' anti-homosexuality bill with a death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality' went before parliament in February.
Unfortunately, Wamala believes his case has fallen on deaf ears because he can’t provide concrete evidence of being gay and claims allegations that he was assaulted by guards as he was also being deported in December have been ignored.
Wamala has been given no right of appeal to the deportation ruling following a judicial review held in his absence on 22 March, which he claims he was not informed about.
Gay campaign group Schools Out are supporting Wamala’s cause and are appealing to readers to contact UK Home Secretary Theresa May, the UK Border Agency and Virgin Atlantic to voice their disapproval.
‘The main thing which is striking about these cases is that the UK Border Agency is working on the principle that they can’t send people back to countries which discriminates against people because of their sexuality,’ Schools Out spokesman Tony Fenwick told GSN.
He said: ‘What they’re doing is they’re getting round this by demanding evidence of their sexuality, but of course they don’t have it. They’ve been in the closet and hiding so of course they don’t have evidence of their sexuality. It’s a catch 22.’