Woman in fear of torture to be deported

A LENGTHY legal battle by a Nigerian woman to prevent the deportation of herself and her two daughters on grounds of fear of female genital mutilation in Nigeria ended in failure at the High Court yesterday when it upheld the deportation orders.

The court’s decision means Pamela Izevbekhai, who was arrested in Sligo more than two years ago for deportation after she came out of hiding to see her daughters, faces imminent deportation unless the Minister for Justice grants her application for “subsidiary protection”.

Ms Izevbekhai and her daughters Naomi, 7, and Jemima, 5, were in court yesterday when Mr Justice Kevin Feeney refused to grant her counsel, Mel Christle, the certificate necessary for a Supreme Court appeal against the judge’s decision in January upholding the deportation orders.