Isabella Katjiparatijivi sought asylum in Scotland during 2017 because she is very vulnerable as a lesbian in Namibian society. Her application was rejected late last year. If Isabella is deported, she’s at risk of forced marriage and corrective rape.

Her lawyer, Usman Aslam, placed a petition with the Court of Session, giving Isabella three months to challenge and appeal the rejection. When Isabella reported to the Home Office in Glasgow on January 8th, she was detained.

According to The National, the Home Office has issued a deportation order for Isabella.

In her own words, this is why Isabella urgently needs to be granted asylum in Scotland:

“Lesbianism is not yet legalised in Namibia but there’s an organisation working to legalise it. 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.”

This petition urges Humza Yousaf MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, to intervene on Isabella's behalf. It invites the Home Office to recognise how precarious Isabella is as an out lesbian in Namibia and grant her political asylum. No woman should be put in danger because she loves other women.