Norwich pregnant woman to face death if deported to Albania | flickr

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said that Home Office will be handing a pregnant Norwich woman a “death sentence” if she is deported to Albania, sources reported. Lewis, ahead of a crunch meeting with Home Office officials about the future of the woman who fled to Britain around two years ago, said that sending her back would mean ending her life.

According to the source, she had been the victim of sex trafficking gangs but managed to escape. The fear now is that this would put her at risk of an honor killing if she were to be deported to Albania.

She has one small child, born in Britain, and is expecting a second. Around 10 days ago she was informed that her bid to stay in Britain had been rejected prompting her therapist to take her in over fears she would self-harm.

Mr Lewis added: “At the meeting someone from the Sue Lambert Trust will be present. Their understanding, and mine, is that the woman in question would not have been in the right mind set to give a clear interview to the Home Office. They obviously thought she was lying but we certainly don’t think that is the case.

“The point I will be making is that if she is deported her life will be in danger. This is that serious. Clearly she should be allowed to remain indefinitely.

“Sending her back would be a death sentence.”

While in Norwich, the woman was in regular contact with advisers from sex abuse charity the Sue Lambert Trust who are also backing her plea to be allowed to remain.

Two other MPs – Mid-Norfolk’s George Freeman and South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon – have also taken up the victim’s plight with the Home Office and will be present at the meeting.

During prime minister’s questions last week, Mr Bacon asked “Albania has one of the highest rates of honor killings in Europe. Will the government look very closely at the case of a woman who was staying in the constituency of the right honorable member for Norwich South and now, through the generosity of her therapist, is staying in South Norfolk in the therapist’s own house to reduce the risk of self-harm and who, if she was deported to Albania possibly as soon as tomorrow, may be the victim of an honor killing?”

Albania remains a country scared by one of the highest-rates of honor killings in Europe. Certain Eastern European countries have recorded cases of HBV [honor based violence] within the indigenous populations, such as Albania and Chechnya, and there have been acts of ‘honour’ killings within living memory.