A Gambian woman facing political persecution and serious health issues has narrowly avoided deportation from the UK after a last-minute intervention by a judge.
Fatou Tamba, 55, was due to be forcibly removed to The Gambia on Tuesday afternoon but was spared just hours before her flight was scheduled to depart from Heathrow Airport.
Ms Tamba, who has lived in the UK for 16 years and is a well-known community member in Liverpool, has spent nearly four months in immigration detention. Despite no criminal record and a history of full compliance with immigration rules, she was issued a deportation order by the Home Office, which her family and legal team have described as unjust and inhumane.
She was taken from her detention cell at 3am and transported to Heathrow to board a 4:40pm flight, while her lawyers raced against the clock to seek an emergency court order. The deportation was ultimately blocked after a judge agreed to hear her judicial review application, halting the removal process just two hours before takeoff.
Her brother, Lamin Tamba, told The Independent that the family is devastated by her continued detention, particularly given her fragile health and the trauma she has experienced.
“This is not just about immigration,” he said. “It’s about justice, about fairness. My sister is not a criminal. She’s been in this country for 16 years, working with local charities, raising her son, and living peacefully in Liverpool.”
“She’s had a hard life. She was forced into a child marriage at 14 to a man nearly three times her age. She’s a survivor of abuse and political threats. Sending her back to The Gambia would be like handing her a death sentence.”
Ms Tamba first came to the UK in 2009 to visit Lamin, fleeing a politically unstable environment in The Gambia. Members of her family had been targeted for their opposition to the former regime, and she received multiple threats to her life. She settled in Birmingham before relocating to Liverpool eight years ago, where she has built a new life with her partner and become active in refugee support circles.
Her application to remain in the UK was rejected in 2021, even though other family members, including her son, were granted leave to remain. Since then, she had been attending monthly check-ins with immigration officials until one visit in March, when she was suddenly detained.
Since then, Ms Tamba has been held at two immigration removal centres: Derwentside in County Durham and Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire. Her lawyers say her physical and mental health have significantly declined in custody. She now uses a wheelchair, suffers from worsening diabetes and arthritis, and has shown symptoms of PTSD.
“She is deteriorating,” said her solicitor Jamie Bell of Duncan Lewis. “This deportation attempt was not just premature it was dangerous. Her medical conditions cannot be properly treated in The Gambia, and she has no support network there anymore. It’s hard to see how the Home Office justifies this.”
“The judge’s decision to stay her removal is a small victory, but we’re still pushing for her to be released and returned to her family and community in Liverpool, where she belongs.”
The UK Home Office has declined to comment on Ms Tamba’s case, citing its policy of not discussing individual immigration matters.
In The Gambia, where access to advanced medical care is limited, her family fears she would not survive long if deported. Mr Tamba added: “She would be returning alone, to a country where she has no access to the treatment she needs. Her diabetes and her trauma will be left untreated. That’s not deportation, that’s a death sentence.”
The case has sparked concern among human rights advocates, with calls growing for greater transparency in how the UK handles asylum cases involving vulnerable individuals with deep roots in their communities.
As of now, Ms Tamba remains detained, but her legal team continues to fight for her release and a path to permanent residency in the UK.
