This case has put Kenyan rugby player Kenneth Macharia at the centre of a deportation fight in the United Kingdom after his asylum application was rejected.
Macharia, who plays for Bristol Bisons Rugby team, was still being held at Colnbrook immigration centre near Heathrow airport as he awaited removal from the UK. He had sought asylum on the basis that he would be persecuted and imprisoned in Kenya because he is gay.
Speaking to BBC radio from the detention centre, Macharia said: “there is a lot of mob justice that takes place in Kenya because the police are generally inefficient and the general public has a habit of taking the law into their own hands.”
The Home Office rejected his claim and said it considered Kenya safe for gay people. That position has triggered a public campaign from his club and teammates, who have launched a petition and social media push urging the Home Office to change course.
In a statement, the club said:
“Ken’s story is yet another example of the Home Office ignoring the risks that LGBT people face in multiple countries around the world. “We are providing support for Ken at this challenging time, hoping he will not be removed from the UK to continue his life here. “Deporting a good, hard-working, gay man to a country where homophobic violence and imprisonment is rife is immoral and unjust, and should be stopped.”
Macharia has lived in Bristol since 2009, where his mother also stays, and he has a work visa. The case has drawn attention because it combines immigration enforcement, asylum law, and the treatment of LGBT people in Kenya and abroad.
With heavy hearts we are sharing the news that one of our members has been detained pending deportation from the UK. Kenneth Macharia has had his request for asylum rejected and now risks being deported to Kenya, fearful of persecution and violence in Kenya because he is gay. pic.twitter.com/qySfq3XUAy — Bristol Bisons RFC (@bisonsrfc) November 18, 2018
