On 29 November, the Home Office attempted to deport Isa Muazu, a Nigerian refugee.
Muazu had been on hunger strike for over 100 days against his detention at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre and was feared to be close to death. However, the privately-charted jet the Home Office hired to deport him was not allowed to land by Nigerian authorities, and Muazu is now back in the UK.
The Home Office says that his deportation now has Nigerian approval and that they will try again. Muazu says returning to Nigeria would put him at risk from the Islamist militia Boko Haram, which he refused to join before fleeing to the UK. Protests have taken place outside the Home Office in defence of Muazu.
A witness to the alleged sexual abuse of inmates at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre is being threatened with deportation.
Afolashade Limidi says she saw guards working for Serco push and physically threaten another female inmate who had complained about sexual misconduct from staff. Another witness, Sirah Jeng, was released from detention after the Observer revealed she had been threatened with being deported, and three members of staff have been sacked in connection with the case. It is feared that the Home Office is now trying to deport Lamidi as a way of covering up the mistreatment of detainees.
Irina Putilova, a Russian political dissident and LGBT rights activist, has been released from Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre after a campaign to save her from deportation.
Putilova is a member of the radical art collective Voina and has campaigned for gender equality, environmentalism, and against the authoritarianism of the Russian state. She fled to Britain after a criminal case was brought against her for her political activities.