Appeals
Prossy Kakooza is a 26 year old Ugandan woman seeking asylum in the UK. She fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation. Prossy was forced into an engagement when her family discovered her relationship with the girlfriend she met at university. Both women were marched 2 miles naked to the police station, where they were locked up. Prossy's fellow inmates subjected Prossy to gross acts of humiliation, and she was violently raped by police officers, who taunted her with comments such as "we'll show you what you're missing", and "you're only this way because you haven't met a real man". She was also scalded on her thighs with hot meat skewers.
Prossy's father bribed the guards to release her, as the family had decided they would 'sacrifice' her, believing this would 'take the curse away from the family'. While they were making arrangements to slaughter her, Prossy escaped to the UK to seek asylum. When she went for treatment at her local surgery, staff were so shocked at the extent of her injuries they called the police. Prossy was taken to the St Mary's Centre in Manchester, and is still receiving counselling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Prossy's asylum application has been refused by the Home Office; they acknowledge she was brutally raped and burnt, because of the medical evidence, but have dismissed these appalling acts as 'the random acts of individuals', and state that she can safely be returned to a different town. This judgement ignores the clear danger to gay people in a country where the penal code carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment for homosexuals (see below), and where the government has been actively encouraging the persecution of gay people. The reality is that if Prossy is sent back she faces a clear risk of imprisonment and / or abuse and assault, possibly endangering her life.
Prossy Kakooza is an educated woman who can be a productive member of society. She is currently working - as a volunteer - at a Central Manchester charity. She has a right to be free with her sexuality, and has the right not to be raped, assaulted, murdered; or indeed to be imprisoned for life by a bigoted government which appears to be whipping up mass hysteria and encouraging judicial repression.
Write to your MP and / or to the Home Office in support of Prossy Kakooza (HO reference K1268314) supporting her claim for asylum, and refuting the superficial and unrealistic view of the Immigration Service in this case.
Background Information
Homosexuality is illegal under section 140 ff of the Ugandan Penal Code, which provides for sentences up to life imprisonment for homosexuality. The law against homosexual practises was inherited from the British Colonial period, but the penalties were significantly increased and the scope of the laws extended in 1990 by the Ugandan Government.
Ugandan religious groups including Christians support these laws, blaming homosexuals for the spread of AIDS/HIV, which is malicious and demonstrably false. It is a matter of deep shame that people claiming to be Christians are willing to participate in this unjust and deeply un-Christlike behaviour, and that some also campaign for the prohibition of condoms in AIDS/HIV prevention.
For fuller information on the background to this situation, follow this link to;
where you will find more details of the legal and social context.
Sources: Prossy Kakooza Must Stay! Campaign; Human Rights Watch website
new page 18 May 2008