Boris Johnson is sentencing gay refugees to death
1. 7. 2022 / Fabiano Golgo
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Adeniyi Raji was among at least 10 refugees on a
charter flight to Lagos, Nigeria that took off from Birmingham Airport
on Wednesday night. He arrived in Britain in 2017 from that African
country to escape death threats that were being sent to him by
authorities and on social media. Being gay is illegal in Nigeria and
punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
He was
subjected to a vicious homophobic attack in Nigeria, his ex-partner was
killed and he was told he will be killed if he is returned to Nigeria.
He was caught with his male partner in bed and soon dozens of neighbors
gathered and started beating them severely. Raji was fired from his job
and his name, picture and even his address were splashed across
newspapers and websites by the police.
Raji
sought refuge in the UK because he had been publicly outed as a gay man –
thus as a criminal - and his life was in danger in Nigeria. But Boris
Johnson’s government has decided to send him back to certain death.
Notwithstanding all the evidence that he should be protected, Raji was
placed on the deportation flight back to Nigeria.
Raji’s
case is the latest in a long legacy of the Boris Johnson government
failing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees. Reports have revealed
interpreters subjecting vulnerable homosexual refugees to bias and
derogatory remarks, immigration officials using an applicant’s religion
or even their own anti-LGBTQ+ relatives to deny they are really
homosexual, and relying on stereotypes to decide by looking at the
refugee’s behavior if he or she is a really homosexual.
Meanwhile, an immigration pact to “off-shore” some asylum seekers to Rwanda amounts to a death sentence for LGBTQ+ people.
Cynically,
during this LGBTQAI+ Pride Month, the Home Office and all British
government departments have splashed their profiles on social media with
the colours of the rainbow that represent the non-heterosexual
discriminated community.
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