• Judge Judy Archuleta: Free Rabiu Musah and grant him asylum
• Biden: Grant Temporary Protective Status for LGBT+ asylum seekers from Ghana and other countries NOW
• Stop the raids and deportations
• Full citizenship rights for ALL immigrants—with and without papers
• Build the new youth-led immigrant rights, civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBT+ rights movement
• Shut down Donald Trump’s racist vision for America
• Asylum for ALL refugees NOW—asylum seekers and refugees are WELCOME

 

Rabiu Musah is a gay man from Ghana who has fought and survived some of the most cruel and violent anti-LGBT+ attacks in the world. Rabiu Musah is currently in ICE detention near Denver, Colorado and seeking protection in the United States from violent anti-LGBT+ persecution and torture in Ghana. His asylum hearing is scheduled for Tues. Oct. 17, 2023 at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern in front of Judge Judy Archuleta. He needs your support. 

Rabiu is one of millions of LGBT+ people across the world fighting for the right to live and love openly and proudly. He is also one of millions of immigrants fighting for freedom from political persecution and violent attacks. In a time of unprecedented gains but also unprecedented attacks on gay and trans people in the US and across the world, and when millions of people have been forced to leave their homes to seek asylum from war, torture, persecution, the impact of the climate crisis, and starvation, victory for Rabiu and his fight for freedom will strengthen the struggles of LGBT+ people and all immigrants yearning to breathe free. 

Earlier this year in January, Rabiu was subjected to a violent mob attack in his home city Kumasi, Ghana. One of the men thrashing him took a picture of Rabiu being surrounded and beaten by the gang members who were never arrested or prosecuted by the police. After the mob of crazed anti-gay bigots brutally beat him, they hog-tied him, and were about to set him on fire but were  interrupted and forced to flee. 

That wasn’t the end of the threats to Rabiu. Rabiu’s picture and the beating was posted on an Islamic Whatsapp site to instigate members of Ghana’s Muslim community to attack and beat Rabiu. His enemies have encouraged his family and community to shun him. As a Muslim in a majority Christian nation, with many Christian anti-gay mobs already attacking LGBT+ people, this drove Rabiu into greater isolation and danger.

Ghana is one of the most dangerous places for LGBT+ people in the world

The  Ghanaian constitution has outlawed gay male sexual relations since Ghana gained its independence in 1960. However, since 2021, the Ghanaian government, headed by President  Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has led a very public campaign to criminalize all forms of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender + (LGBT+) expression. The new legislation outlaws all the same sex relationships, referring to them as “unnatural carnal knowledge.”Any promulgation of pro LGBT+ literature would be outlawed, including on the internet and is punishable by a 5-10 year jail sentence.The bill criminalizes any public expression of same sex affection, and encourages family, co-workers, and neighbors to report LGBT+ members of the community to the authorities. 

At every turn in the debate on the new LGBT+ legislation it has become more draconian. Human Rights organizations have condemned Ghana’s new anti-LGBT+ law as one of the most draconian laws in the world. Violent mob gay-bashings and anti-LGBT+ lynchings in Ghana have intensified in the dangerous climate stoked by the legislation.

President Akita-Addo is leading the charge on this authoritarian anti-LGBT+ legislation. He was elected to serve as Ghana’s President for a second term in 2021 on the basis of highly suspect continuously revised election results. Like other dictators, Akita-Addo uses official law enforcement and military forces as well as extra legal gangs to maintain control of Ghana. The process of legislating Ghana’s new extremist anti-gay laws has given license to Akito-Addo’s extralegal thugs to carry out brutal anti-gay attacks.

Akita-Addo’s legislation was developed with support from right-wing organizations in the US who poured hundreds of millions of dollars to attack LGBT+ rights, women’s rights, and abortion rights in Ghana and other countries in Africa, as well as in the US. Akita-Addo is scapegoating LGBT+ people as his enforcement of US and UK economic, political, and military policies have driven the people of Ghana into more desperate conditions. For LGBT+ Ghanaians, it’s a matter of life and death.

 

Stop the Death Deportations of Asylum Seekers and Refugees! Free Rabiu Musah and all Detainees from ICE Detention!

This is Rabiu’s second attempt to receive asylum in the United States. In 2016, Rabiu Musah was 28 years old and first expressed his sexuality by developing a relationship with another young man in the college they attended. Every LGBT+ person can relate to the experience before coming out, having to suppress who we are and pretend to be someone who we are not. The very act of Rabiu expressing his love for another man was the beginning of the fight to be free and to be himself. Despite trying to keep the relationship secret, Rabiu was eventually discovered by others for having a gay relationship. He was beaten by mobs in his neighborhood and was almost killed. His identity was then publicized on national radio for being gay. Rabiu fled Ghana, traveled through South America, Central American, Mexico and reached the southern border of the United States and applied for asylum. He was denied asylum by the Detroit Immigration Court in 2017. Struggling with PTSD and the conditions in detention, Rabiu did not appeal the Court’s negative decision because he felt that he could not survive in detention during the months that his appeal would require. 

Rabiu Musah was deported back to Ghana in 2017 where he suffered a complete mental breakdown. Initially Rabiu was homeless. He had already been outed by a popular Ghanaian radio station in 2016 and his family feared that they would be persecuted if they took him back in. Finally, fearing that he would be killed if he continued to live on the streets, his family agreed to provide him with shelter, hiding him while they tried to nurse him back to being able to live independently. 

In 2020, Rabiu’s family arranged for him to be married. He told his wife that he is gay. She was grateful to have a partner who was kind and treated her with respect, rather than being forced into an arranged marriage with a man who abused or mistreated her. During the first two years of their marriage, the COVID-19 pandemic kept them both at home. Once it was possible for Rabiu to get out again he got romantically involved with a man. While they were together, they were beaten and almost killed by the mob this year.

 

Biden: Temporary Protective Status for LGBT+ Migrants from Ghana and other Countries Now!

Because Rabiu was deported in 2017, Rabiu is not eligible to apply for bond and ask the immigration court to release him from detention while his case is pending. ICE has now decided to keep Rabiu in ICE custody in detention instead of releasing him through parole or Supervision. This means that Rabiu’s immigration hearing will be expedited, and he will face imminent deportation if he loses his case. BAMN calls on all civil rights and immigrant activists, advocates, organizations to organize and mobilize community support to win Rabiu’s case, the right to remain in the United States and be released from detention.

The Biden administration can provide protection for Rabiu and people like him by creating Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for LGBT+ migrants and shield them from deportation. Currently, DREAMers–DACA recipients, and people who receive protection through TPS, like migrants and refugees from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cameroon, and Ethiopia, etc. are eligible to apply for traveling documents to travel outside of the United States, creating a pathway to adjust to permanent residence status upon successful re-entry into the United States. The new Civil Rights and Immigrant Rights Movement must continue to fight intransigently to expand these programs now.

Contact: Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). BAMN.com