UK: Lesbian asylum seeker due to be deported to Uganda on Thursday

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An asylum seeker who claims she is at risk of homophobic persecution is due to be deported to Uganda on Thursday.

According to the campaign group Movement for Justice (MFJ), Prossie N was a victim of sexual abuse and rape by her uncle from the age of 8.

MFJ say she was taken out of school at 13 and her sexuality became public knowledge in her Ugandan neighbourhood at 15.

The group claims a married woman, whom Prossie N had a secret relationship with, got her a passport and visa through an agent who brought her to Britain from Uganda in September 2010.

She has had several same-sex relationships since she arrived in the UK and was arrested in a Home Office raid in the house where she was living on 21 July. She was then taken to Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire, claimed asylum, and her case has since been processed for deportation.

Two attempts were made in October and November to deport Prossie N on flights – but each time she physically resisted and the planes departed Britain without her.

Movement for Justice claims Prossie N faces persecution and the likelihood of imprisonment and torture if she is returned to Uganda because of her sexuality.

Campaigners have frequently documented alleged cases of the Home Office deporting LGBT asylum seekers back to countries where they face homophobic persecution.

The claims have always been denied the Home Office.

Last week, the case of a British man charged in Uganda after images of him having sex with a man were published in a newspaper was adjourned for a second time.

Bernard Randell initially hoped he would have been deported back to Britain last Friday.

Mr Randall has denied trafficking obscene material, which carries a two-year jail term. His Ugandan male partner faces a more serious charge of gross indecency, which carries a seven-year jail term.