Nigerian gay rights activist wins UK asylum claim
NIGERIA - The Home Office has granted refugee status to a prominent Nigerian LGBT activist, ending a 13year battle over her right to remain in the UK.
Aderonke Apata, 50, says she knew she was gay from the age of 16 and was persecuted in Nigeria. She has been recognized internationally for her human rights work, and recently received Attitude magazine’s Pride award. Apate arrived in the UK in 2004 but did not immediately claim asylum on the grounds of her sexuality. Until 2010, lesbian, gay and bisexual asylum seekers were often forcibly removed to their home countries if it was deemed safe for them to “live discreetly”. In 2012 she filed an asylum claim but was considered by the Home Office to be lying about being in a lesbian relationship. Apate appealed, but was told by the judge: “What is believed is that you have presented yourself as a lesbian solely to establish a claim for international protection in an attempt to thwart your removal .It is considered that your actions are not genuine and simply a cynical way of gaining status in the UK.” A new appeal was scheduled for late July. Apate’s legal team gave notice that 11 prominent witnesses, including the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the Lib Dem peer Liz Barker, would be attending. The Home Office requested an adjournment and then earlier this month sent a letter to Apate saying officials had decided to grant her refugee status. “I was just crying on the phone with my solicitor when he broke the news to me,” said Apate. “I was singing Great is Thy Faithfulness O God My Father in my heart at the same time.” She said there had been many dark hours during her battle with the Home Office, such as being kept in solitary confinement for a week in Yarl’s Wood detention centre in October 2012.
(Theguardian.com)