Asylum seeker ‘was asked to provide intimate photos to prove she was gay’

Skhumbuzo Khumalo fled Zimbabwe, where homosexuality is illegal, after fearing for her life, only to be subjected to ‘degrading’ treatment on arrival in the UK.

A woman who fled Zimbabwe after boiling water was poured over her for being gay has told how she was asked to prove her sexuality with intimate photos when she sought asylum in the UK.

She spent four weeks at a detention centre in December 2014 and later faced a gruelling five hour interview with immigration officers where she was asked to provide photographs of a sexual nature of her with another woman to prove her case.

Skhumbuzo Khumalo was even booked on a flight back to Zimbabwe, where only a few months ago President Robert Mugabe rejected homosexual rights in a UN speech.

There, it is a criminal offence for two people of the same sex to hold hands, hug or kiss.
Fortunately, in June 2015 she was granted asylum and with Fixers, the charity which gives young people the opportunity to create media campaigns, she has made a film which tells her story.

Read more at mirror.co.uk