A LESBIAN asylum seeker who said she is frightened of being forced by her father into an arranged marriage to a man has overcome a major hurdle in her battle to remain in Scotland.
The case of Isabella Katjiparatijivi is winding its way through the judicial review process and yesterday it passed a relatively new – but crucial – measure known as the “permission stage” in court.
READ MORE: Home Office again ignores The National's FoI call
This means that one judge has accepted that there is merit in her case, which will now go to a full hearing at the Court of Session in October.
Katjiparatijivi, a 29-year-old from Namibia, came to Scotland in October 2017 seeking asylum from prejudice in her home country because of her sexuality.
The National previously told how her application had been rejected last year, but when she reported to the Home Office in Glasgow on January 8, she was whisked off to the detention centre at Dungavel – despite her lawyer, Usman Aslam, lodging a petition for judicial review at the Court of Session.
That should have given her a further three months to mount a challenge as well as halting any further action against her.
However, the Home Office had scheduled her for deportation back to Namibia on January 25 – an order that officials denied even existed. They accused The National of getting the story wrong and insisted that no removal instructions had been issued.
Yet, we had seen the order and were able to quote the departure date, flight number and destination.
It was only later that the Home Office claimed the order had been issued through “human error”, an admission which triggered a training review by Caroline Nokes, the Immigration Minister.
After her release from Dungavel, Katjiparatijivi outlined her fears about an arranged marriage.
“Lesbianism is not yet legalised in Namibia but there’s an organisation working to legalise it,” she said.
“In my tribe they do not allow two women to get married or be in a relationship.
“My dad doesn’t allow me to be a lesbian and that’s why I came here to seek asylum.
“When he found out I was a lesbian he was planning to arrange a marriage for me, because he and the rest of the tribe believe that if you sleep with a man it ‘cures’ you.
“If I go back my father will try to arrange another marriage because that’s what he believes.”
Aslam, a member of the immigration team at McGlashan MacKay Solicitors in Glasgow, said yesterday’s development was significant.
He told The National: “Once a petition has been submitted in the Court of Session, what used to happen was that it would usually proceed to a hearing, however recently the court introduced a ‘permission’ stage.
“In short, this means that a judge will review the case and decide whether there is enough merit in the case to warrant a full hearing.
“Anyone that is familiar with this area of the law will appreciate that this is a very difficult stage, so this is a good result.”
He added: “We are pleased that the Court of Session has granted permission to proceed in this case.
“Now the matter can be articulated in greater detail with the advocate here, Kenneth Forrest.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel