John Bosco Nyombi believes he will be killed if he is returned to Uganda on Sunday – because of his sexuality.

The gay asylum seeker, from Chichester Road, North End, is due to be removed from the country after living and working in Portsmouth for seven years. He was arrested yesterday (Tues 9th) and is currently being held at Portsmouth Central police station. A flight has been booked to take him back to Uganda at 6.40am on Sunday. (Sept 14th)

Friends from St Jude’s Church in Southsea are to held a prayer meeting (Thursday 11th), as campaigners lobby the Home Office to allow him to stay. They believe his life is at risk if immigration officials carry out their plans to deport him.

His asylum case revolves around the fact that homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and carries a punishment of life imprisonment or worse. On top of that, his brother, who was a high-profile opposition campaigner in Uganda, was murdered by supporters of the government, and John Bosco was told it was too dangerous for him to stay in Uganda. 

He fled the country and arrived in the UK in September 2001. After spending four months in Haslar Immigration Removal Centre in Gosport, he settled in Portsmouth. He started coming to St Jude’s Church, where worshippers initially helped him with food and money, as he was receiving no benefits.

He started work caring for adults with mental health problems, spending much of his income on solicitors’ fees. He also paid taxes, paid rent and worked voluntarily as treasurer of the Haslar Visitors’ Group, visiting other asylum seekers detained in Haslar. At one point he won his asylum case, but the Home Office then appealed against the decision. Since then, his case has been heard in the High Court. But he was told over the summer that his legal options had run out.

While his case was being heard, he was required to sign in regularly with immigration officials at Portsmouth Central police station. It was during one of these routine visits that he was arrested on Tuesday. (Sept 9th)

Michael Woolley, co-ordinator of the Haslar Visitors’ Group, said: “The way these arrests are carried out is disgraceful, without any chance to put affairs in order. John has signed regularly at a police station for years, and there is no reason to think he would abscond. Yet he was given no notice, no opportunity to pack a bag, to say goodbye to his friends or to sell his car. He is doing two jobs but has been unable to give notice to either employers or landlord. He has had no chance to close his bank account or make arrangements for friends to meet him in Kampala.

“A more humane system would give staged warnings. In John’s case, he lost his last case in the summer and was told, in a standard general letter, that he must now leave the UK. He was trying to arrange further legal representation. Then he was arrested. It would have been better to issue an order for him to report with his cases packed. That approach appears to work in the USA.”

Item from: The Diocese of Portsmouth