South Africa drops deportation case against Ugandan gay rights campaigner

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

South Africa drops deportation case against Ugandan gay rights campaigner

David Smith in Johannesburg
The Guardian, Thursday 20 February 2014 18.43 GMT

A Ugandan gay rights activist has thwarted an attempt by the South African government to deport him amid fears he would be at risk of imprisonment or death if sent home.

Officials dropped their case on Thursday against Paul Semugoma, a critic of Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill. But South African activists said it raised questions about their government's treatment of foreign nationals and silence about homophobia on the continent.

Semugoma, a doctor, was detained at a Johannesburg airport on Monday while returning from a trip to Zimbabwe because, the government claimed, his visa had expired. A day later immigration officials hauled him to the boarding gate for a South African Airways (SAA) flight to Uganda, according to activists who phoned the airline and other officials informing them of a court order preventing his deportation. Semugoma, 42, resisted boarding the flight and SAA refused to take him.

The South African government appealed against the order but finally capitulated when the case came to court. A spokesman for the home affairs department said it had granted Semugoma a four-year exceptional skills work permit in return for him dropping a claim for political asylum.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/20/south-africa-drops-deportation-case-ugandan-gay-rights-campaigner-paul-semugoma

[theHandpuppet]

1. Thank the gods

At least this will give him the extra time to pursue asylum elsewhere.