Iceland set to deport Nigerian couple, daughter

Iceland has rejected the appeal of a Nigerian couple Sunday Iserian and Joy Lucky, and their eight year old daughter to stay in the country.

The family will be deported to Nigeria, ruled the country’s  Immigration and Asylum appeals board on Monday.

According to Iceland Mirror, the family received this news  after living in Iceland after a year and a half.

Both Iserian and Joy had left Nigeria more than eight years ago, via the Libya route, to Italy, where they met and had the child. They later migrated to Iceland, in search of a better life.

Iserian appealed for political asylum due to threats he claimed  he received from the Nigerian government.
He says that he was a victim of politcal persecution and was afraid for his life. He worked as a driver for the leader of the PDP democratic party, who was murdered when Sunday was driving. "They shot him to death and then burned the car. I escaped to a nearby farm and then hid with my uncle."

 Following this incident the Nigerian government put out a warrant for Sunday's arrest as he was suspected of killing the man. Sunday shows the journalist a story from the Sunday Observer where he's wanted by police following the murder. After spending a few days at his uncle's house, members of the Boko Haram attacked the home and killed his uncle and his uncle's son. Sunday fled to a nearby church where he received money to get him away from Nigeria to Libya and onwards to Italy.

Joy Lucky claimed she was a victim of sexual slavery while pregnant with their daughter Mary.

Speaking to mbl.is, Joy describes being approched by a vicar at her local church back in Nigeria who promised to get her a job as a nanny in Europe.  Once she accepted the offer, which she had good faith in, she was taken to a building where her hair, and her pubic hair, was cut off and her body washed according to black magic rituals to scare her into compliance.

She was transported to Libya where she met Sunday and fell in love. Once they fled across the Mediterranean to Italy the couple lost track of each other and Joy discovered that she was pregnant.  She only found Sunday again three years later.


Their stories appeared to have been taken as cock and bull stories and thus rejected by the Immigration Appeals.

The news of the rejection of their application met with some furore in Iceland and an online petition  was set up  for them to be able to stay in the country, the Mirror reported.

The Ombudsman for Children in Iceland had made a statement to say that they are concerned about the welfare of children seeking in asylum in Iceland.