Gay Ugandan Robert Segwani has been spared deportation at the last minute and returned to detention. Thank you if you signed the petition we told you about the other day, but Robert isn’t out of danger yet. Joe Mirabella reports:

Robert was spared from deportation at the very last minute according to his friend and fellow gay Urandan refugee John Bosco, “[Robert] is back in the detention centre waiting to hear what’s next.  He had 5 escorts up to the plane, and as he was about to board the plane the Home Office stopped his deportation.  He is very tired and stressed since he has not been sleeping well.  He is in pain.”

John Bosco told me on the phone that Robert has not been eating well and that he was considering suicide, “Since last Friday, when he was given the deportation notice he stopped eating. He threatened to kill himself, because he has had enough, said Bosco.

More than 3,500 people signed Paul Canning’s Change.org petition asking the Home Office to grant Robert Segwanyi asylum in the UK.

Update, 8/9/2011: Have received an email from LGBT Asylum News saying, “Last night Robert was released from detention. Although we (and Robert) don’t yet know why he was released, those of us who work with LGBT asylum seekers know that this is a good sign, that it is extremely likely that his case will eventually be accepted.”