Gay Ugandan Faces Deportation From U.K.

Submitted By: Fabulous Rob on June 1, 2011 No Comment

A Ugandan woman seeking asylum in the U.K. after attackers branded her with a hot iron because she is a lesbian, is facing deportation, The Guardian reports.

Betty Tibikawa, 22, is currently detained at a removal center in Bedfordshire and is awaiting deportation orders back to Uganda — despite public statements made last week by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg asserting that asylum seekers would not be sent back to countries where they would likely face persecution as the result of their sexual orientation.

“I can’t sleep and I’m having terrible nightmares about what will happen to me if I’m sent back to Uganda,” Tibikawa told The Guardian. “My family have disowned me because I’m a lesbian and I’m convinced I’d be killed if I’m sent home.”

Tibikawa, whose attackers in Uganda had branded marks on her inner thighs, said she was outed in February by a Ugandan magazine called Red Pepper.