Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Jack must stay! Being gay is not a crime

Jack Monday | 09.07.2007 17:34 | Anti-racism | Gender | Migration | World


Hi my name is Jack Monday Ikegwu, I am opening this profile to raise awareness to help fight the criminalisation of homosexuals in Nigeria. Please read my story.

Jack came to the UK in February 2006 fleeing persecution for homosexual activity in Nigeria. He applied for asylum, but was immediately put in immigration detention, even though he was under 18 years old. At the time Jack was unable to prove his age or the facts of his story and his asylum claim was refused.

After 11 months in detention, Jack was granted bail on the strength of a report from a medical expert from the Helen Bamber Foundation, which provided evidence that Jack has scars and other injuries consistent with his experience of torture. After being granted temporary admission from detention in January, Jack’s solicitor was in the process of submitting a Fresh Claim for Asylum when Jack was re-arrested on Wednesday 19th April. His deportation was stopped last minute and he now awaits the outcome of the Fresh Claim. He has again been released from detention on temporary admission because of his experiences of torture in Nigeria.

According to the law, religion and culture in Nigeria, homosexuality is strongly criminalised. Homosexuality is outlawed in the Nigerian penal code and Muslim law. However, in northern states under Muslim law the punishment can be death; in the civil penal code homosexuality can carry up to a 14-year prison sentence. A new law forbids same-sex marriage and prohibits gay people from assembling and petitioning the government. It also allows prosecution of newspapers that publish information about same-sex relationships and religious groups that allow same-sex unions. Those who violate this law can be sentenced to five years in prison.

Jack had a relationship with a boy, (both 16 years old), who was the son of a local chief. On learning of this relationship, the family of his lover threatened to have him killed. They also went to the police, who issued a warrant for Jack’s arrest for homosexual activity and widely publicised this in Jack’s home area. The police came to Jack’s house looking for him. Jack went into hiding, but was discovered by a group of men who recognised him. He was abducted and severely beaten and tortured for several hours. The men left Jack for dead, but having survived this ordeal, he sought to escape Nigeria with the help of other gay friends.

Jack’s solicitor has obtained an authenticated copy of Jack’s arrest warrant from the Nigerian authorities. Together with the expert medical report and other supporting materials this forms substantial new evidence that has not yet been considered by the Home Office.

Since his first temporary release in January, Jack has been active in fighting for and supporting migrants and asylum seekers in the UK, and continues to do so. Help support Jack to ensure that he is granted asylum and is not sent back to a country where he has been criminalised for being gay and faces arrest, prison, torture and maybe even death.
To Help please visit
http:// www.jackcampaign.pbwiki.com
Click here to sign Online petition - Jack must stay!

please help spread the word, the link for the petition is:  http://www.gopetition.com/online/13060.html

Who I'd like to meet:
queer activists, human rights activist, or any people in general who care or can help out and fight against human rights violations!!



Online petition - Jack must stay!

Jack Monday
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/_jackmonday

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech