Student facing UK expulsion fears for his life

AN award-winning student who is facing deportation from Scotland to his home country claims to fear for his life if he returns.

Asylum seeker Lord Elias Mensah Apetsi has been told by the Home Office that he will be flown back to Ghana tomorrow from Stansted Airport, Essex.

Students and politicians have joined a campaign calling for the UK Government to halt his deportation and will today stage demonstrations outside the Scotland Office and Home Office.

Strathclyde University masters student Mr Apetsi, who fled Ghana a decade ago and has a three-year-old son living in Glasgow, was detained earlier this month after reporting to the Border and Immigration Agency as par t of his asylum conditions.

He was taken into custody after it emerged a fresh application for leave to remain had not been submitted on time.

The National Union for Students say this was “human error” for which Mr Apetsi was not to blame.

Since being detained, Mr Apetsi has been transferred to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, Lanarkshire, then to a centre in Lincolnshire and then Oxford. Yesterday he was being moved to a unit in Gatwick, London.

Raj Jeyaray, vice-president of diversity at Strathclyde Student Association, said: “Lord is in fear of his life. I know why he left Ghana but what happened to him is personal and I don’t have permission to share this story.

“But I do know he had to leave and is scared about what will happen to him if he returns.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “All asylum applications are carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with the UK immigration rules.”