Aderonke Apata is a nigerian asylum-
seeker who recently revealed her
intentions to release a s*xtape to
prove that she is
gay. Aderonke is seeking for asylum in
the UK because she says she could be
killed in Nigeria.
According to her, She felt she had tried
everything to persuade the Home Office
she was gay. She’d sent letters from
former girlfriends – both in Britain and
Nigeria – and supporting statements
from friends.
But once her claim that she could be
killed because of her sexuality if sent
back to Nigeria was rejected, she felt
there was only one way of providing a
judge with irrefutable evidence that
she was gay: by sending a very personal
home video.
On Monday Ms Apata will hand in a
petition to Theresa May, the Home
Secretary, demanding that the
deportation of all LGBT asylum-seekers
is halted until a review of their
treatment is concluded.
Sitting with her girlfriend, Happiness
Agboro, in a bar on Manchester’s Canal
Street, Ms Apata, 47, reveals the
traumatic ordeal she has experienced: “I
was asked to bring my supporting
documents for my judicial review for the
court to look at. What evidence do we
have to compile apart from letters from
people? I knew we had a home video of
ourselves, so I thought why not just put
it in? I cannot afford to go back to my
county where I will be tortured, so if I
have to prove it with a sexual video,
then I have to do it.”
Her experience is echoed by many LGBT
asylum-seekers in Britain who are
having to go to extreme lengths to
persuade sceptical immigration officers
of their sexuality. She still feels
distraught at having shared such an
intimate record of her personal life.
“I feel so bad it’s got to this stage. It’s
such a desperate and precarious
situation to be in, very dangerous,
because anything could happen to those
pictures, those videos.”
The Home Secretary ordered a review
of how border officials handle gay
asylum claims in March after leaked
documents revealed that inappropriate
interrogation techniques were being
used to make people “prove” they were
homosexual.
Ms Apata will present her petition at a
meeting with the Independent Chief
Inspector of Borders and Immigration,
attended by asylum-seekers and
activists in Manchester.
When she came to Britain from Nigeria
in 2004, her asylum claim was on
religious grounds. She came from a
Christian family, but had married a
Muslim man in what she says was a
sham arrangement to cover up her long-
term relationship with another woman.
According to Ms Apata, her husband’s
family turned against her as they
suspected she was gay. They took her
to a sharia court, where she was
sentenced to death for adultery. She
says her brother and three-year-old
son were killed in related vigilante
incidents.
Ms Apata ran away and went into hiding
after two appeals for asylum were
rejected, living on the streets in
Manchester to make sure she would not
be deported.
In 2012, after being caught working as a
care manager with a false visa, she
tried again to apply for asylum – saying
she feared returning to Nigeria and
being persecuted for her s*xuality.
This latest asylum claim was also
rejected, despite the fact that Ms
Apata gave testimony that her ex-
girlfriend in Nigeria was killed in a
vigilante attack in 2012 and the
country’s law now punishes
homosexuality with up to 14 years’
imprisonment.
Ms Apata’s story has rapidly garnered
mass support, with one petition
demanding Theresa May halt her
deportation already attracting more
than 230,000 signatures.
A judicial review has now been granted
in her case and she is hopeful she will
finally have the right to live freely in
Britain with her girlfriend.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We
do not remove anyone at risk of
persecution because of their sexuality.
We provide dedicated guidance and
training to those dealing with such
asylum claims, and all applications are
carefully considered in line with our
international obligations.”
For Ms Apata, the threat of deportation
has proved too much and she has
recently been hospitalised with complex
post-traumatic stress disorder. “I want
sanctuary,” she says. “I just want to be
protected. I want to be who I am
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