Brenda Namigadde is to be deported to Uganda tomorrow. From Chicken Yoghurt:

The British Foreign Office advises visitors to Uganda that ‘homosexuality is illegal and social tolerance of it is low.’
David Kato could certainly confirm that. If he wasn’t dead.
” A Ugandan gay rights campaigner who last year sued a local newspaper which outed him as homosexual has been beaten to death, activists say.”
There’s no proof that Kato’s death and outing are linked. This must have worried him though…

” Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper published the photographs of several people it said were gay next to a headline reading “Hang them”.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda, with punishments of 14 years in prison.”

Anyway, in other news we’re deporting Brenda Namigadde back to Uganda tomorrow.

“A lesbian woman due to be deported from Britain to Uganda has been told by a Ugandan MP that she must “repent or reform” when she returns home.
The politician, David Bahati, intervened in the case of Brenda Namigadde, due to be deported on Friday, saying he would drop a clause making homosexuality punishable by death in a bill he introduced to the Ugandan parliament.”

Very good of him, I’m sure you’ll agree. I bet that will put Brenda’s mind at rest. If you yourself aren’t sure about it, you can try and appeal to the Home Secretary’s better nature and ask her to heed the advice of her Foreign Office colleagues:

Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stop the flight, release Brenda Namigadde from detention and to grant her protection in the UK. Please remember to quote Brenda Namigadde’s Home Office Reference number 1166867 in any correspondence.

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF

Fax: 020 7035 4745

Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

(Hope Justin doesn’t mind me quoting his blog post in toto, but I thought the signal boost important and am too tired to compose something myself).

My email, which you’re welcome to use as a guide:

Ref: 1166867
Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to ask that the Home Secretary use her discretionary powers to release Brenda Namigadde from detention and halt her planned deportation to Uganda. As a lesbian Ms Namigadde faces immediate arrest on her return to Uganda, and imprisonment for 14 years. She may well face death, like David Kato, who was beaten to death yesterday because of his homosexuality.
Please do not let this woman, who has done nothing wrong and has already suffered unjustly by being interned in Yarl’s Wood, be punished any more for her sexuality.

Regards,
Andrew Hickey

Given the pretty appalling climbdown over civil liberties Ms May announced yesterday, I’m not holding out much hope, but we do supposedly have a policy of not deporting homosexuals to countries where they’d face persecution, so we’ll see…
Normal blogging resumes tomorrow