An asylum request by a female citizen
of Ghana who claimed to have been persecuted there for being a lesbian
was rejected by an advisory committee on refugees reporting to the
Interior Ministry, after determining that she had conducted a long-term
relationship with a man and had not had any relationship with a woman in
Israel.
The committee determined that Mavis Amponsah had chosen
“to adopt a lesbian lifestyle,” so her claims that this is her sexual
preference should be rejected.
The decision was made
based on interviews conducted in English, despite Amponsah’s
declarations that she doesn’t speak the language.
For the past
five months she has been held in jail after not renewing her residence
permit on time, due to a misunderstanding, according to her.
She was released earlier this week after court proceedings.
Amponsah, 41, entered Israel as a tourist in December 2013. That month she filed a request for asylum.
She
said that she had been in a relationship with another woman in Ghana
for 20 years, and that her community objected to this and pressured her
father, the tribe’s leader.
According to Amponsah, she and her partner were assaulted on two occasions, and there were threats to kill them.
Following
the assaults she had to leave home, but the harassment continued. Her
father warned her that his life was also in danger if she did not break
off her relationship.
In a conversation with Haaretz, assisted by
a translator to Akan, she repeated the gist of the story, saying she
had maintained links with her partner but could not return to Ghana out
of fear for her life.
The advisory committee doubted Amponsah’s
story and rejected her request. The committee’s chairman, attorney Avi
Himi, said that her statements contained many contradictions and facts
that didn’t add up. He didn’t believe that she was a lesbian.
“She
never said she was attracted to women but stated that she became a
lesbian after being disappointed with her relationship with a previous
male partner, who betrayed her for another woman,” he wrote.
“Her
statements show that she consciously and rationally adopted a lesbian
lifestyle. This wasn’t a preference she had had all her life, forming an
integral part of her identity, so her claims of a clear sexual
preference are unacceptable. Since arriving in Israel she didn’t meet
women or act on her alleged preference, even though free to do so. This
is contrary to what might be expected of someone fleeing persecution for
a sexual preference.”
Himi related to other contradictions in
her versions and said that she “couldn’t prove fear based on persecution
if she returned to Ghana. While the law there forbids homosexual ties
between men it is silent with regard to women.”
He noted that the
gay community there is threatened and harassed, and that this could
turn into persecution as the Ghanian authorities do not provide any
effective protection for the gay community.
Two months ago, after Amponsah’s interviews, attorney Yadin Elam started representing her.
He
appealed to the Population, Immigration and Border Authority and
protested “the absurd claims regarding her sexual inclinations,”
demanding a repeat interview with a translator to Akan, a language she
knows.
In a previous interview held in prison last March after
she was detained, the translator determined that she “had difficulties
with English.” Nevertheless, that interview as well as subsequent ones
was held in English.
Contrary to procedures and court rulings,
another Akan-speaking prisoner was asked to translate at another
comprehensive interview held in May, but Amponsah refused.
That
interview was also held in English. She asked that questions be repeated
35 times during the interview. On other occasions she answered only
partially or not to the point.
The Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees also believed that Amponsah doesn’t speak
English and recommended interviewing her in a language she knows in
order to arrive at a fair decision.
Following a question by
Haaretz, the Israeli LGBT Association said that “the arguments appearing
in the committee’s decision regarding sexual inclinations are baseless
and outdated, and should no longer be used.
A lesbian’s
inclination can exist even if she doesn’t act on it by living with
another woman, just as a heterosexual woman maintains her sexual
identity when she lives alone, or when she chooses not to act on her
romantic or physical attraction to men.”
The Population and
Immigration Authority responded by saying that “claims that Ms. Amponsah
was interviewed in a language she supposedly doesn’t know, leading to
doubts over our professionalism, are ridiculous, not fitting what really
happened.
After providing you with details, these were ignored,
since the examples and details that came out in the interviews
contradict what you claim. The interviews are all recorded and
documented.
She had several interviews lasting many hours, in the presence of her attorney.
She
was repeatedly asked if the questions were clear and was told that if
not they would be repeated. She agreed to not having a translator.”
Regarding
decisions on her sexual preference, the authority said that the “final
opinion was based on all the interviews and on other parameters, some of
them personal, that should not be made public for the sake of modesty
and respect for her dignity.”
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Wednesday 19 August 2015
Israel Refuses Ghanaian 'Lesbian' Seeking Asylum
Publisher GhanaThings.Com
8/19/2015 09:37:00 pm
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