Ugandan lesbian awaiting deportation fears for her safety
After the murder of gay activist David Kato, Brenda Namigadde, currently in Yarl's Wood, says she fears her life is over
Inside Yarl's Wood detention centre, awaiting deportation to Uganda in less than 24 hours, Brenda Namigadde is desperate.
Namigadde fled her home country eight years ago after being persecuted for her relationship with another woman. She says she has always intended to return home when "things were better". But things, she says, have just got worse.
After the murder of the gay Ugandan activist David Kato and with a chilling warning from Ugandan MP David Bahati ringing in her ears, she says she fears her life is over. Bahati, the author of a bill which would impose the death penalty on homosexuals, intervened in Namigadde's case to warn her she should "repent" or be arrested on her return.
Speaking from Yarl's Wood, Namigadde, 29, says: "My life is in danger. I don't know what will happen to me. I'm very scared. I haven't eaten, I haven't slept."
She knows from experience what returning to her country will mean for her, she says. "I'll be tortured, or killed, if I'm sent back. They've put people like me to death there."
Growing up as a devout Christian in a country where homosexuality is a crime, Namigadde says she was used to keeping her sexuality a secret from her family and her church and the wider community.
But when she was 17, she fell in love and began a relationship with Janet Hoffman, a Canadian woman who worked for an NGO. Once their relationship was discovered, they were beaten, threatened and their home was burnt down.
"They would point and shout at us in the street. They would swear or say 'You lesbians, that is disgusting it is against nature. Heaven will not accept you'.
"One day when we were walking in Kampala, someone saw us and they started pointing at us. Others gathered and quickly there were 50 people all screaming at us. They were swearing and pointing and we were very scared. But a taxi came arou! nd and w e managed to get away."
When it became known they were gay, she says, they were thrown out of their church. "People who were against gays got to know where we lived. One night, when we arrived home, people jumped out at us from the bushes, they had masks on and they began beating us with sticks. I still have scars on my ankle.
"We had to go to hospital. I had wounds on my legs and because Janet is white, you could see bruises all over her body. She reported it to the police but they did not take any action. It is forbidden in the country. She is older than me and she was bold, but she said to me: 'I can't take this.' "
They went into hiding at a friend's house but during that time Namigadde's house was burnt down. "I looked at that house and I felt it was the end of the world. Janet said to me: "We have to do something."
Hoffman helped Namigadde escape to Britain, where she has an uncle, while she fled to Canada. Since then, Namigadee has been involved with protests against the Anti-Homosexual Bill in Uganda, at the Ugandan Embassy in 2009. She says that she and her uncle were photographed there and the protesters' names and pictures have been published in Uganda.
"I thought that things would get better in Uganda. I was waiting for a chance to return. But now, with David Kato's murder, with the Bill it is much worse."
Her asylum claim was turned down partly on the basis that the judge did not believe there was any evidence that she was homosexual.
Matthew Coats, head of immigration at the UK Border Agency, said her case had been considered by both the UK Border Agency and the courts on two separate occasions. "She has been found not to have a right to remain here," he said. "An Immigration Judge found on the evidence before him that Ms Namigadde was not homosexual."
But he added that a fresh asylum claim filed by her lawyers would be reviewed "prior to any removal".
Namigadde's lawyer, Alex Oringa from Cardinal Solicitors, said the fresh claim includ! ed an af fidavit from two of her relatives to confirm her sexuality. He said he was "very worried" for her safety. "It is deadly. The moment she arrives at Entebbe airport she will be arrested. They will detain her and you never know what happens in detention. They think she has humiliated the Ugandan government."
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