A Nigerian doctor detained in Mountjoy prison in Dublin for the last six nights is going to the High Court today to challenge his imprisonment by immigration officials.
Dr Grant Oyeye (35), who has enrolled for a two-month course in tropical medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin next month, was detained by gardai at Dublin Airport last Tuesday.
According to his solicitor, Mr Derek Stewart, he had a valid passport and entry visa, a substantial sum of money, a reservation for a guesthouse in Donnybrook, Dublin, and proof that he was enrolled for the course. He had travelled on a one-way airline ticket.
Dr Oyeye was detained pending deportation after immigration gardai learned through Irish Embassy staff in Nigeria that the hospital where he said he worked reported that he had not been there for six months.
Mr Stewart said he subsequently received a fax from the hospital confirming that Dr Oyeye was indeed an employee there, but was currently attached to an ancillary hospital in a remote region. The hospital also confirmed that Dr Oyeye had been given leave from work to attend the Dublin course and that his position has been kept open for his return.
Mr Stewart said when he contacted the immigration official to inform him of this development, he was told further checks had revealed that Dr Oyeye had previously entered Ireland unlawfully without a visa.
Mr Stewart confirmed that his client had indeed visited Dublin from London last January to see his wife, who was sitting an exam. He had not been stopped by immigration officials on that occasion and spent two nights at the Donnybrook guesthouse where he also intended to stay on this occasion.
Mr Stewart said his client was held for three nights in the basement of Mountjoy prison alongside some prisoners who are HIV positive or have hepatitis C. "My client said he wanted to go home because he was potentially exposed to the exchange of bodily fluids. He said he came to Dublin to do a course on tropical diseases, not to put his health at risk," he added.
Dr Oyeye was last Friday transferred to the training unit, where people awaiting deportation are normally held, after Mr Stewart contacted the prison's governor. Mr Stewart obtained a High Court order last Friday to allow him to challenge his client's detention as unlawful today.