Support Kizza’s Appeal
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Kizza Musinguzi
Tel: 07927588416
This is a petition to the Home office minister and Secretary of
state, to reconsider Kizza’s case and grant him permission to remain in the United
Kingdom.
I am a Ugandan gay rights
activist who was jailed by the Ugandan government for my gay rights work and
subjected to four months of torture from May to September 2004.
A
Government minister in
The Home Office wants to deport me on the grounds that this abuse does not
constitute persecution.
As a gay man I have managed to
get a strong social network. Through attending church and going to workshops. I
Plan to go to university to study electrical engineering.
Despite not getting any
support from the government I have managed to survive through the support of
friends and supporters I have also managed to survive through my own strong
will and determination. I want to continue my university education and become
an Electrical engineer. Please support me and help me get my life back.
I have continued my gay
rights work in
If you would like to read the
facts of my case please read on
Returning me to
We the undersigned, call upon the secretary of state and the home
office minister to reconsider Kizza’s case and grant him permission to stay in
Kizza’s History
I am a Ugandan gay rights
activist who was jailed by the Ugandan government for my gay rights work and
subjected to four months of forced labour, water torture, beatings and rape,
from May to September 2004.
A
Government minister in
Homosexuality is illegal in
The Home Office wants to deport me on the grounds that this abuse does not
constitute persecution. It says that I am not a legitimate asylum seeker
and I do not qualify as a genuine refugee.
In Harmondsworth asylum
detention centre in west
§
I was abused by staff racially and
homophobically abused me as a “nigger” and “batty boy”,
§
Denied me medical treatment for the effects
torture,
§
Forced me through the asylum system without
legal representation,
§
Confiscated my asylum papers and asthma
inhaler,
§
Subjected me to abuse of an unwarranted internal
examination, and attempted to deport me without serving me with a removal
order.
‘Harmondsworth Britain’s
largest immigration removal centre near
Heathrow airport, is being run with a regime as strict as any high security
prison, with those facing deportation victimised by staff and some
strip-searched and temporarily locked in
solitary confinement, according to the chief inspector of prisons.’ Guardian Tuesday 28th
November 2006
When my solicitor raised
these issues with the home office minister Mr Tony McNulty. He replied back
saying the matter had been fully investigated and that staff had acted within
the guidelines. I was never interviewed by any home office official over the
matter. This was another cover up by the
Home office.
My father was murdered by the
Ugandan security services in November 1997, after seeking election in a
constituency contested by a government Minister who is now the second deputy Prime
Minister, Henry Kajura. My mother and sister were arrested in February 2001
because of their work for the Ugandan opposition movement, the Reform Agenda.
They have never been seen or heard of since they were seized. The Redcross is
currently helping me with efforts to trace me family
Fearing for my life, I fled
to
The Home Office forced me
through the asylum system without legal representation. Having no
solicitor and no knowledge of the UK legal system, and being detained and
unable to gather evidence to support my asylum claim, I failed at every
hearing. I was forced to represent myself in an appeal against refusal of
asylum and to write my own application for a statutory review of my case.
The Home Office then fast-tracked me for deportation as a failed
asylum seeker.
Desperate for legal help, I
appointed Peter Tatchell of the gay human rights group Outrage! As my legal
representative, as I was entitled to do. I instructed Mr Tatchell to submit a
fresh claim for asylum, based on new evidence gathered by an independent
researcher, which confirms widespread homophobic persecution in
The Harmondsworth Fast Rack
Office refused to accept Mr Tatchell as My legal representative and refused to
accept the fresh claim. They actively blocked attempts by me to confirm that Mr
Tatchell was acting on my instructions.
On 21 September, the Home
Office attempted to deport me, despite my fresh claim for asylum based on new
evidence and despite the fact that I was never served with a removal order
(this was in breach of the home office guide lines). Mr Tatchell contacted
Harmondsworth’s Labour MP, John McDonnell, who got the deportation order
stopped just as i was about to be put on a plane at Heathrow Airport.
I was then transferred to a maximum security detention centre
Colnbrook detention centre in west
During my five months
detention in Harmondsworth, I was denied medical screening, treatment and
counselling for the effects of rape and torture – despite suffering from intense
pain in his groin and bleeding when defecating.
Harmondsworth staff subjected
me to racist, homophobic and sexual abuse, including an unwarranted and
unexplained strip-search and internal anal examination, which echoed the abuse
i suffered in
On launching judicial review
proceedings about my treatment, the Home Office backed down due to the
overwhelming evidence my solicitor and barrister presented. I have not had any
correspondence from them since which has led me to a life of destitution and
desperation.
I have reported every week at
the Home Office for the past eleven months without fail. I have adhered to all
conditions of my release after eight months in immigration detention:
I
receive no support or benefits;
I am not allowed to do any kind
of paid or unpaid work;
I have sometimes had to sleep
in parks and street benches;
I am not allowed to take up
study as that may involve work experience;
Two doctors’ reports (one of
them from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) demonstrate
that I have survived torture in my country of origin
PLEASE SUPPORT MY APPEAL TO REMAIN IN THE