More on Jackie Nanyonjo and what was done to her.
Jackie was a fighter for herself and for others: a lesbian who escaped from anti-gay persecution and a brutal forced marriage, and a member of the Movement for Justice. In Britain she had been able for the first time to live and love openly as a lesbian; she was much-loved by a wide circle of friends who kept in touch with her after she was deported and who miss her deeply.
I suppose I should say trigger warning at this point. What happened to her is not comfortable reading.
With all the limited avenues of Britain’s racist immigration laws closed to her and facing deportation to a country where it is a crime to be gay and where the political and religious leaders have whipped up a murderous anti-gay witch-hunt, Jackie’s only option was physical resistance. On 10th January, on Qatar Airways Flight QR76, Jackie fought bravely for her freedom with all the strength she could gather against four Reliance guards. She continued fighting when the guards drew curtains round their end of the plane to hide their crimes. She struggled for as long as she could until, beaten up, half strangled and bent double, she was overcome by the pain in her chest and neck and was unable to breathe.
When Jackie arrived at Entebbe Airport the ‘escort’ party handed her over to the Ugandan authorities, who held her for many more hours without any medical attention. When family members finally met her, long after the flight had landed, Jackie was in terrible pain and vomiting blood; they rushed her to a clinic, but in a country with widespread poverty and limited medical facilities they were unable to get the medical attention Jackie needed. Since Jackie was in hiding as a known lesbian, protected by relatives, every trip to a doctor or hospital involved a risk to her life and to the safety of her family. They were condemned to watch the agonising decline of Jackie’s health and strength over the next two months.
I’m not an expert on asylum, but deporting gay people to Uganda does seem like an unfortunate policy…
Who exactly were the Reliance guards and why are they not facing assault or grievous bodily harm charges at a minimum?
I’m not an expert on asylum either. But this sounds like manslaughter to me. I cannot imagine what the witnesses (who must have heard what was going on even if they could not see past the curtain the cowardly security put up) thought was going on. What about the flight crew? Does Qatar Airways permit murders to take place on their flights? This is sickening. (And I’m not even counting all of the insults and injuries she suffered while undergoing her asylum proceedings).
What the FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE????
According to the article, Reliance is a private security contractor that provides deportation services to the UK government. As in the US, hiring contractors for the dirty work means both sides can dodge responsibility – the corporation or government blames the contractors, the contractors blame the government.
At least she died fighting, that’s worth something. Better that than a longer living death and probably an early death by other means. “We will die rather than go back” sends a pretty strong message.
Would Ugandans have a better chance at getting asylum in the US? What about Mexico? They have pretty good asylum laws in Mexico. What about Canada, or even Cuba?
I am not comforted that she died fighting. Not at all. There is no comfort here, none whatsoever.
Thank you for writing about this, Ophelia. I’ve been increasingly angry over the last few months that the British media has largely ignored Jackie Nanyonjo’s death. The immigration enforcement system is cruel and violent and horrifying, and it’s time we started talking about it.
Tragically, it is something that happens all the time. Our asylum claims process is cruel, arbitrary and unfit for purpose. Most asylum-seekers are put on the “Detained Fast Track”, which means they’re held in hellhole detention centres like Yarl’s Wood or Harmondsworth while their claims are being processed. And most are disbelieved. Look at this report: [Trigger warning]
And for LGBT asylum-seekers like Jackie, they are often not believed, and often face deportation to countries where their life is in danger. One immigration lawyer who works with LGBT asylum-seekers says that they are often subject to “inhuman and degrading” pressure to “prove” their sexuality or gender identity.
The only message I read into this was the one the British government sent: “Rather die than go back? You have no choice. Fight, and you’ll die after you’ve been sent back.”
It’s much the same in Australia, I’m sorry to say…
Are there any questions being raised about this and other cases in newspapers, etc in Britain?
Tragically, no. The media seems to be largely ignoring her death. (Which is why I’m trying to get the word out.)
She’s not the first person to die at the hands of immigration enforcement – the same happened to Jimmy Mubenga, in 2010. But few British people even know about this. Nor do they know what life is like for detainees in immigration removal centres, such as Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire, where Jackie Nanyonjo was imprisoned along with many other women refugees.
It’s interesting that it was on a Qatar Airlines plane and behind closed curtains that Ms Nanyonjo was so treated. There have been cases where pilots have refused to accept forcibly-deported refugees as passengers and where other passengers have intervened. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/09/05/uk-border-agency-halts-deportation-of-lesbian-asylum-seeker-bound-for-cameroon/ or http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/31/witnesses-thrown-off-deportation-flight for example