Nigerian mom continues fight to remain in United kingdom and stay away from FGM chance to daughters

Afusat Saliu, right, with her two daughters and her good friend Anj Handa, who lodged the petition on change.org. Photograph: Anj Handa

An 11th-hour legal challenge is currently being mounted in an attempt to halt the imminent deportation from the United kingdom of a Nigerian lady who is searching for asylum to safeguard her two daughters from becoming subjected to female genital mutilation in her native country.

More than a hundred,000 folks have signed a petition calling on the Property Workplace to reconsider its choice to send Afusat Saliu, 31, back to Nigeria, with her two daughters, aged three and 1.

Saliu, herself a victim of FGM, lives in Leeds and was ordered to report to Heathrow airport for deportation on Friday obtaining exhausted her legal efforts to fight towards her removal. The Property Workplace rejected new proof presented by Saliu’s legal team from her former boyfriend and her cousin about the threat of FGM to the infants if the family returns.

But on Thursday a leading worldwide lawyer, Felicity Gerry QC, took up Saliu’s situation and was preparing to apply for an emergency injunction with the court, to force a pause in the deportation ideas.

As the legal documentation was being drawn up, George Mudie, Saliu’s MP for Leeds East, wrote to James Brokenshire, minister for security and immigration, calling on the deportation ideas to be halted whilst planning for the emergency injunction was under way.

The campaign backing Saliu’s appropriate to continue to be in the United kingdom has grown quickly above the last 48 hours, with the quantity of men and women signing the petition exceeding a hundred,000 by Thursday afternoon.

Speaking from Leeds, Saliu, whose youngest child was born in the United kingdom, explained she desired to protect her daughters from the very same genital mutilation that she had suffered.

She mentioned: “I will not want my daughters to be mutilated like I was. That will come about if I get them back I know it because it is the culture of my family members. They think in it and I will not be in a position to do anything about it.”

Saliu, who has been supported by pals in Leeds, in certain by Anj Handa, who lodged the petition on alter.org, explained she was overwhelmed by the support from friends and members of the public who do not know her, saying it manufactured her stronger and gave her hope.

Saliu fled Nigeria in 2011 right after her stepmother told her she would get her oldest daughter, Bassy, minimize. She stated her dad and mom have been also forcing her to marry a guy forty years her senior, who she believed also posed a danger to her youngsters.

She 1st applied for asylum in 2012, but her application was denied. An appeal has been dismissed, and her recent application to the House Office presenting new proof was rejected on Wednesday.

The MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland, and the anti-FGM campaigner Leyla Hussein have each backed Saliu’s battle towards deportation.

Mulholland explained: “I was extremely concerned to hear about the remedy that Ms Saliu has received from the Home Office, and I have written to the [Uk Border Company] and requested that they urgently investigate Ms Saliu’s situation and guarantee that the deportation is place on hold until finally the matter has been completely looked at once more and to let Afusat and her supporters to submit fresh evidence about the difficulties she and her children would face if they are returned to Nigeria.

“It is extremely worrying that the Residence Workplace are striving to deport her to Nigeria, regardless of the threat of violence she faces, and the threat of FGM to her two youthful daughters, which sadly Afusat has already been a victim of.”

The House Office stated: “The United kingdom has a proud historical past of granting asylum to those who need our safety and we think about every claim for asylum on its individual merits.

“We think that individuals who fail to establish a genuine fear of persecution need to return home voluntarily. If they do not, we will enforce their removal.”

Nigerian mom continues fight to remain in United kingdom and stay away from FGM chance to daughters