Ugandan 'lesbian' in Court of Appeal over deportation
A legal battle against deportation by a Ugandan woman who claims she is a lesbian reaches the Court of Appeal today.
Brenda Namigadde, 29, was granted an 11th-hour "stay" blocking her removal from Britain on Friday January 28.
The order was made by a Court of Appeal judge outside of normal court hours following earlier unsuccessful applications before two High Court judges in London.
Ms Namigadde says she fears for her life if she is returned to Uganda, where there is hostility towards homosexuals.
She had been due to fly back to the country on the evening of January 28 when her lawyers were granted a temporary injunction shortly before her flight left Heathrow.
At the Court of Appeal today Lord Justice Maurice Kay will hear her application for permission to appeal against the refusal of the High Court judges to grant her permission to claim for judicial review.
Her judicial review moves were launched in a bid to challenge the decision that she does not have the right to remain in the UK.
Ms Namigadde has said she fled to the UK in 2002 after being beaten and victimised because of her sexuality.
A UK Border Agency spokesman has said on the case: "Ms Namigadde's case has been carefully considered by both the UK Border Agency and the courts on three separate occasions and she has been found not to have a right to remain here.
"An immigration judge found on the evidence before them that Ms Namigadde was not homosexual.
"The Government has made it clear that it is committed to stopping the removal of asylum seekers who have genuinely had to leave particular countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identification.
"However, when someone is found not to have a genuine claim we expect them to leave voluntarily.".
Gay rights campaigner David Kato was recently beaten to death near the Ugandan capital Kampala. He had sued a local newspaper which outed him as homosexual.
A Ugandan newspaper published the photographs of several people it said were gay, including Mr Kato, with the headline "Hang them".
It is unclear whether his death was linked to his campaigning.
