The case of Kenneth Macharia has prompted a Bristol rugby club to ask the Home Office to stop his deportation to Kenya. Supporters say the 38-year-old gay player faces persecution and violence if removed from the UK.
Macharia was detained on Thursday after the Home Office rejected his asylum request, leaving him at risk of being deported “at any time”. The appeal from the Bristol Bisons, an amateur rugby club in Bristol whose majority of players are gay, had collected more than 6,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
The dispute follows a ruling that said Macharia could live openly as a gay man in Kenya, even though sex between men can carry a sentence of up to 21 years in prison. The source also cited reports of homophobic mob violence in the country.
Macharia told The Independent that he came to the UK in 2009 as a student to study mechanical engineering before later obtaining a work visa. He said he did not come out immediately after arriving because he feared the kind of reprisals he believed were possible in Kenya.
“I was surprised to see that the judge said a gay person can live openly in Kenya,” he said.
“There is a high risk of mob violence. There are criminals who try to blackmail people online.
“By going back to Kenya I would have to hide who I am.”
He had worked as a design engineer until earlier this year, when his asylum claim was denied and he was forced to stop working. Macharia said his mother, a nurse in Bristol, had taken extra shifts to help with his rent.
He said the long-running case had left him depressed and anxious as he waited for letters from the authorities. He said he was trying to manage the strain through medication, positive thinking, meditation and exercise.
Macharia is now being held in an immigration detention centre at Heathrow. “I’ve never been to prison so it feels like prison to me. I’m worried about what happens next,” he said.
