March 7, 2008
Do you remember Pegah Emambakhsh, the woman who sought asylum in Great Britain, and who risked to be deported to Iran last August ? Her asylum request has been turned down, and she is now facing a bigger threat of being sent back than last time, when her departure was prevented by a strong popular reaction.
The news on Pegah have been reported by the Independent, which had written yesterday about Mehdi Kazemi, a gay man now detained in the Netherlands and who risks the same fate after extradition to Great Britain- and a certain death in Iran, which does not tolerate sodomy: Iran already murdered the lover of Mehdi in 2006.
A petition by more than 60 parliament members has been sent to prime minister Gordon Brown in support of Mehdi. In the meantime, gay activists note that there are tens of homosexuals in Great Britain who risk deportation to Iran.
From the article by the Independent:
In turning down Ms Emambakhsh and Mr Kazemi’s asylum applications, the Home Office has said that, provided Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted. But Omar Kuddus, of Gay Asylum UK, demanded that Britain follow the example of the Netherlands and Germany in imposing a moratorium on all deportations involving gay and lesbian Iranians. He asked: "How many more young Iranians have to die before the British Government takes action?"
The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, Lin Homer, said: "Our country guidance for such cases is published and is considered as amongst the best in the world. We have expert case workers who make decisions on such cases and there are further avenues through the courts. When and if a court decides that we should look at a case again we will do that."
Well said mr Homer! If there are experts working on the case, we can all sleep tight. If we are eterosexuals. Great Britain will always do the right thing: its foreign policy with middle east countries is fair and balanced. Bombs to Iraq, gay refugees to Iran.
