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National politics (NL/UK/Italy/Germany) |
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Jet |
29-03-08 21:46
Leeds MP challenges Gordon Brown on deportation
5.50.05pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 21st Mar 2008
Leeds MP Greg Mulholland
At this week's Prime Minister's Question Time the Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland, challenged the Prime Minister on the policy of deporting people to Iran who are likely to meet harsh treatment when they arrive there due to their sexual orientation, religious beliefs or other qualities.
He said, "Yesterday, I was pleased to present a petition to the Prime Minister on behalf of my constituent, Mr. Ali Pourkaberian, an Iranian Christian who was supposed to be deported. We were delighted to get the news on the same day that his deportation has been put on hold. However, when will the Government accept that deporting Christians, homosexuals or anyone else whom the objectionable regime in Iran does not like is simply not facing up to our human rights responsibilities?"
Source: --->Delga UK click here<---
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Jet |
29-03-08 17:51
Commission Blasts U.K. Asylum System
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Mar 27, 2008
The British asylum system has been denounced by a commission as "marred by inhumanity" and hobbled by a "culture of disbelief."
The Independent Asylum Commission, tasked with examining the asylum system and reporting in its findings, blasted the U.K. asylum system as "not yet fit for purpose," reported the British newspaper The Independent in a March 27 article.
The report is the end result of a comprehensive review that finds the system "falls seriously below the standards to be expected of a humane and civilized society," with the interim report scheduled for delivery to the British Home Office by a group of individuals seeking asylum.
Its interim report will be delivered to the Home Office today by a delegation of asylum-seekers.
Calling the system "adversarial," the report details that there are several main areas of concern in need of correction. Foremost among them is the brutal treatment of individuals at the hands of enforcement officers, who are not government employees but rather are attached to private security concerns sub-contracted to deal with asylum seekers.
Detention centers also came in for criticism, as asylum seekers are often kept locked up for extended periods of time regardless of medical condition (torture victims and pregnant women, for example, are kept locked away) and the treatment of people in detention centers was denounced. Detainees are shuffled around among various facilities or even deported summarily; little or nothing is explained to the detainees.
Even in cases where asylum seekers are released or not locked up to begin with, the way that asylum seekers are left to descend into poverty was cited and criticized.
Another area of concern is the interview process, which the report says is rife with "a culture of disbelief" that causes "decision-makers" to gloss over the situations of authentic seekers of asylum such as torture victims or women who have endured sexual assault.
Said the report, "Some of those seeking sanctuary, particularly women, children and torture survivors, have additional vulnerabilities that are not being appropriately addressed," leading to their cases being denied despite legitimate claims.
The report says that, "Along with lack of access to legal advice for applicants this is leading to perverse and unjust decisions," reported The Independent.
The commission’s report pulls together testimony from several former home secretaries, as well as testimony from a large number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as police, citizens, and nearly 100 asylum seekers.
A group of independent academics also examined all published work on the issue from over the last half decade, reported The Independent.
The commission’s co-chair, Sir John Waite, was quoted in the article as saying, "The overuse of detention, the scale of destitution and the severity of removals are all areas which need attention before the system can be described as fit for purpose."
Suggesting that the system treats asylum seekers as though they were criminals, Sir Waite continued, "The justification for such a system is the fear of absconding, and that fear is, in our opinion, grossly exaggerated."
The commissioners echoed this, saying, "The detention of asylum-seekers is overused, oppressive and an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer."
Chris Huhne, spokesman for the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs committee, said, "The whole system is fundamentally a mess and broken, and this report makes a pretty good job of summarizing that," reported The Independent.
Huhne continued, "The asylum system combines incredible complexity with systematic incompetence, and thousands wait for a decision year after year."
The Refugee Council’s chief executive, Donna Covey, commented, "This is an important set of findings from an independent commission, which presents overwhelming evidence that the asylum system is still not fit for purpose."
Continued Covey, "It is surely now time for the Government to take a long hard look at the way it treats people seeking sanctuary on our shores."
Added Covey, "We must treat people with basic decency, and the system must get asylum decisions right--they are a matter of life and death."
Often, the phrase "life or death" is not an exaggeration in the case of asylum seekers, especially GLBT individuals looking for safety in a country other than their nation of origin.
As reported by the Associated Press in a Mar. 14 article , one such asylum seeker who looked to Britain for sanctuary had to leave the U.K. and go to the Netherlands for fear that he would be deported to Iran, where he would likely have faced execution for being gay.
19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi had left Iran to study in England. While in the U.K. Kazema learned that his boyfriend had been arrested and killed by police in Iran.
Said Ben Summerskill, of the British GLBT equality group Stonewall, "There are overwhelming reasons why people should not be deported to Iran in the current circumstances, and it is important that Britain is seen as a safe haven."
The Independent article quoted a 25-year-old asylum seeker named Yeukai Taruvinga, a refugee from Zimbabwe who looked for safety in the U.K. after her support for the political party Movement for Democratic Change led to her being persecuted.
The young woman’s story typified many of the aspects of the system that came in for the harshest criticism in the commission’s report.
Related Taruvinga, "I was expecting to receive sanctuary, but when I came to the U.K. it was a completely different scenario [than I had expected]. I found the treatment of asylum-seekers was very brutal and inhumane," The Independent quoted her as saying.
Continued Taruvinga, "I was detained several times without committing any crime--just because I was an asylum-seeker."
Said Taruvinga, "My treatment by officers was very rough, and in one center I was put into a cell with no windows and a dirty bed."
Added Taruvinga, "If you needed help there was no way of calling because the reception was so far away. All we could do was bang on the door."
Like many detainees, Taruvinga was shuffled, seemingly at random, between different detention facilities.
Said Taruvinga, "It was very traumatic and they never explained why they were moving me."
Added Taruvinga, "I kept thinking they were about to take me back to Zimbabwe."
Taruvinga was released three years ago, but her release amounted to essentially being thorn out into the street, where she was reduced to begging at churches in order to survive. reported The Independent.
American practices have come under similar criticisms from watchdog organizations, especially in relation to GLBT asylum seekers. An article from 2006 published by new American Media likened the process for GLBT asylum seekers to "Russian roulette," especially in light of the fact that American law does not provide any protections for gay or lesbian couples, unlike the protections extended to married heterosexual couples seeking asylum in the U.S.
Reported the New American Media article, a married spouse can see his wife or her husband granted asylum status in America because of a "derivative" extension of one partner’s approval to remain in the country.
Gay and lesbian couples, however, must go through the process separately, their cases determined independent of one another’s.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor
Source: --->Edge San Francisco click here<---
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Jet |
27-03-08 19:13
Brits politicus zegt dat er geen homo's worden vermoord in Iran.
25 March, 2008 by holebiinfo
Londen: The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) wil dat Groot-Brittannië zijn beleid inzake de deportatie van homo's naar Iran aanpassen. En dit nadat een woordvoerder van het hoger huis zei dat er geen bewijzen zijn dat homo's in Iran worden vervolgd en geëxecuteerd omwille van hun seksuele geaardheid.
De holebi-organisatie verwijt de Britse overheid van het eerder geloven van de Iraanse propaganda dan de bewijzen van mensenrechten organisaties zoals Amnesty en Human Rights Watch.
Vorige week zei in een debat over asielzoekers Lord West Spithead, onder-secretaris staatszaken, dat er geen bewijzen zijn dat er homo's worden geëxecuteerd in Iran. Na heel wat boe geroep ging de man verder door te stellen dat er geen individuele bewijzen zijn van mensen die werden geëxecuteerd omwille van hun seksuele geaardheid. Ook gelooft hij dat de Iraanse overheid niet liegt wanneer ze stelt dat ze enkel verkrachters en moordenaars executeren.
Afgelopen zaterdag was er een grote protestactie tegen de uitwijzing van de Iraanse Mehdi Kazemi. Die zijn asiel aanvraag zag afgewezen worden in Groot-Brittannië, daarna naar Nederland vluchtte die hem eveneens asiel weigerden en hem terug stuurde naar Groot-Brittannië waar hij alsnog riskeert te worden uitgezet naar Iran, waar hij uiteindelijk de doodstaf wacht omdat hij homo is.
Er zijn meerdere bewijzen dat de Iraanse overheid wel overgaat tot het executeren van homo's. Maar om de blikken van de wereld te sussen beweren ze dat ze enkel jongens executeren die schuldig zijn aan verkrachting of moord.
Source: --->Holebinet click here<---
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Jet |
27-03-08 17:01
Treatment of asylum seekers a "blemish" on UK's reputation
27th March 2008 13:55
Tony Grew
A commission established to examine asylum policy and practice in the UK has concluded that it falls below the standards of a civilised nation.
The 12-member Independent Asylum Commission's findings have been rejected by the Border and Immigration Agency, who claim they treat people with "care and compassion."
The volume of people seeking asylum in the UK has fallen sharply and last year there were just over 23,000.
The commission, whose members included a former chief inspector of prisons, two members of the House of Lords, a Roman Catholic bishop, a former High Court judge and the president of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, spent a year researching their report.
It concluded that the UK asylum system is improved and improving, but is not yet fit for purpose; the system still denies sanctuary to some who genuinely need it and ought to be entitled to it and is not firm enough in returning those whose claims are refused; and is marred by inhumanity in its treatment of the vulnerable.
Lord Ramsbotham, a former chief inspector of prisons, told the BBC:"
"We are concerned at the level of the treatment of children, the treatment of women, the treatment of those with health needs, particularly mental health needs, torture survivors.
"The system is improving all the time, and we commend the strenuous efforts by Border and Immigration Agency to deal with these claims more effectively."
The Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis called the report a "shocking indictment of the asylum system under Labour."
Lib Dem spokesman on Home Affairs Chris Huhne said: "The asylum process combines incredible complexity with systemic incompetence and is not fit for purpose."
The head of the Border and Immigration Agency, Lin Homer, told the BBC: "I totally refute any suggestion that we treat asylum applicants without care and compassion.
"We operate a firm but humane system, supporting those who are vulnerable with accommodation and assistance.
"But we expect those that a court says have no genuine need for asylum to return home voluntarily, saving taxpayers the expense of enforcing their return."
The plight of LGBT asylum seekers has become a political issue after press reports about the plight of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay teenager from Iran claiming asylum in the UK.
Last week more than 60 peers successfully petitioned the Home Secretary to reconsider his case.
Mr Kazemi, 19, was studying in England and applied for asylum after his boyfriend was arrested and reportedly executed in Tehran.
The boyfriend named Mehdi as a homosexual, and police turned up at his father's house with a warrant to arrest him.
His asylum application was unsuccessful in the UK, so Mehdi fled to Holland. The Dutch authorities ruled he should be returned to the UK.
Although the decision to review his case has been met with support, gay activists have warned that there are many similar cases which are being overlooked by the government.
The Home Office says it is not aware of any individual who has been executed in Iran in recent years solely on the grounds of homosexuality, and we do not consider that there is systematic persecution of gay men in Iran.
Human rights groups claim that as many as 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed by the regime in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The commission concluded that:
"Objective country evidence plays an important role in the determination of asylum claims and particularly in the assessment of credibility as it can provide context and understanding to a
claim.
"However, a number of concerns have been raised in recent years over the quality and bias of country information.
"As a result of debates during the progression of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 the Advisory Panel on Country Information (APCI) was established to revise and make recommendations to the Home Secretary on the content of Home Office produced country of origin information.
"The Advisory Panel prepares detailed comments on the content of country information reports. Particular attention is paid to how accurate, balanced, impartial and up-to-date the reports are.
"There is an ongoing debate about the establishment of an independent documentation centre for the provision of country of origin information.
"Many NGO observers feel that such a centre would increase the actual (and perceived) objectivity of the country information made available to decision makers.
"They have also argued that there would be fewer disputes at the appeal stage about the reliability and accuracy of information between the appellant and the respondent."
Read the full report --->BBC click here<---
Source: --->Pink News click here<---
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Jet |
26-03-08 22:37
Reacties op PvdA Oldebroek vragen over Mehdi Kazemi
26 maart 2008
Onlangs deelden de leden van de PvdA afdeling Oldebroek – Wezep hun zorgen over de behandeling van de Asielaanvraag van Mehdi Kazemi met PvdA'ers in de Tweede kamer en Europees parlement. Wij willen u op de hoogte houden van de reacties en informatie die ons inmiddels hebben bereikt.
De Iraanse homoseksueel Mehdi Kazemi vroeg asiel aan in Groot Brittannië omdat hij vreest voor zijn leven bij terugkeer naar Iran. Zijn Iraanse partner is in Iran geëxecuteerd wegens Sodomie. Mehdi’s verzoek in GB werd afgewezen, waarop hij naar Nederland vluchtte om in ons land asiel aan te vragen.
Het Dublin akkoord houdt die aanvraag tegen. Een Europees land waar een asielaanvrager binnenkomt, dient de aanvraag te behandelen. Ook zegt ditzelfde akkoord dat Nederland niet zonder meer een door GB afgewezen verzoek in behandeling kan nemen. Meerdere politieke partijen en diverse organisaties hebben zich met hun zorgen tot Staatssecretaris Albayrak (Justitie) gewend.
Op 15 maart hebben Sijmen Scholten en Bert-Jan Dokter namens de leden van de PvdA Oldebroek een brief overhandigd aan PvdA-ers uit Tweede Kamer en Europees Parlement. In die brief werden de zorgen uitgesproken ver de behandeling van Mehdi Kazemis’ zaak, maar ook de verwachte betrokkenheid van de PvdA in die zaak.
Europese Delegatie PvdA
Europees Parlementslid Lily Jacobs (PvdA) liet ons weten dat het EP op 13 maart reeds een (nood-)resolutie heeft aangenomen om uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi uit Europa te voorkomen. Lily Jacobs heeft voor ons navraag gedaan bij collega Emine Bozkurt die deze zaak namens de PvdA delegatie in het Europees Parlement behartigt. Emine Bozkurt liet desgevraagd weten dat Groot Brittannië heeft toegezegd opnieuw naar deze zaak te kijken.
Lily Jacobs heeft namens de Oldebroeker PvdA’ers gevraagd om deze zaak actief te blijven volgen vanuit de Europese PvdA Delegatie.
Tweede Kamer fractie PvdA
PvdA Tweede Kamerlid Ton Heerts heeft de brief van de Oldebroeker leden meegenomen naar Hans Spekman. Hans Spekman heeft onder meer Asielzaken in zijn portefeuille namens de PvdA in de Tweede Kamer. Hans Spekman heeft, samen met Boris van der Ham (D66), op 13 maart schriftelijke vragen gesteld aan Staatssecretaris Albayrak. Hans Spekman heeft ons een kopie bezorgd van die schriftelijke vragen en 2 daaraan gerelateerde vragen van D66 en GroenLinks politici. In de bijlagen kunt u die schriftelijke vragen inzien.
2070814630
Vragen van het lid Azough (GroenLinks) aan de staatssecretaris van Justitie over de dreigende uitzetting van M.K.(Ingezonden 13 maart 2008)
1. Bent u bekend met de kwestie van de dreigende uitzetting van M. K. naar Iran? Hoe beoordeelt u het feit dat zijn volledige naam zowel in schriftelijke vragen als in publieke berichtgeving bekend is geraakt? Leidt deze bekendheid van zijn naam niet tot extra grote risico’s indien M.K. uitgezet zou worden naar Iran? Zo neen, waarom niet? Zo ja, vindt u ook niet dat het met het oog op het verbod van refoulement geïndiceerd is om M.K. verblijf in Nederland toe te staan?
2. Bent u bekend met de Joint Motion for a Resolution over de dreigende uitzetting van M.K. naar Iran die op zeer korte termijn in stemming zal worden gebracht in het Europees Parlement? Kunt u aangeven of er meerdere vergelijkbare gevallen zijn geweest? Zo ja, welke dan? Is de kwestie van mevrouw P.E. vergelijkbaar en hoe beoordeelt u het feit dat zij niet uitgezet wordt door de Britse overheid maar ook geen verblijfsrecht toegekend heeft gekregen?
3. Deelt u de mening dat het van belang is dat de Europese Unie op korte termijn actie onderneemt om kwesties als deze te voorkomen door nauwer samen te werken en richtlijnen op te stellen in deze? Bent u bereid hierop het voortouw te nemen?
Toelichting.
Deze vragen dienen ter aanvulling op eerdere vragen ter zake van het lid Van der Ham, ingezonden 10 maart 2008 (vraagnummer 2070814250).
Vervolgvragen
Ook heeft Hans Spekman samen met ChristenUnie fractielid Anker op 20 maart schriftelijke vragen gesteld aan de staatssecretaris van Justitie 'over de mogelijke uitzetting van een tot het christendom bekeerde moslim uit Iran'.
De door Hans Spekman gestelde vragen van 13 maart 2008 sluiten heel goed aan bij de vragen die de PvdA leden op die zelfde dag uitspraken in de Algemene Leden Vergadering in Wezep.
2070814930
Vragen van de leden Spekman (PvdA) en Van der Ham (D66) aan de staatssecretaris van Justitie over de dreigende uitzetting van M.K. (Ingezonden 18 maart 2008)
1. Deelt u de mening dat ondanks het feit dat het Verenigd Koninkrijk op grond van de Overeenkomst van Dublin verantwoordelijk is voor het asielverzoek van betrokkene, Nederland betrokkene niet (indirect) mag terugsturen naar een land waar hij vreest voor vervolging vanwege zijn seksuele geaardheid (verbod van réfoulement)? Kunt u garanderen dat betrokkene niet zal worden geréfouleerd?
2. Kunt u van uw Britse ambtsgenoot de garantie krijgen dat, indien betrokkene een klacht zou indienen bij het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens nadat eventueel zijn asielaanvraag door het Verenigd Koninkrijk is afgewezen, hij hangende deze procedure niet zal worden uitgezet naar Iran?
3. Bent u bereid het specifieke beleid dat Nederland voert ten aanzien van homoseksuelen afkomstig uit Iran in Europees verband bij uw collega’s onder de aandacht te brengen, mede gelet op de omstandigheid dat vervolging vanwege seksuele geaardheid één van de gronden is van het Vluchtelingenverdrag? Zo neen, waarom niet?
4. In welke gevallen zal Nederland een asielverzoek wel naar zich toetrekken, hetgeen in het onderhavige geval niet aan de orde was? Wanneer kan worden gesproken van dusdanige uitzonderlijke gevallen van humanitaire aard dat uitzetting op grond van de Overeenkomst van Dublin niet plaatsvindt? Hoe is dit (nader) uitgewerkt in het beleid? Kunt u in dit verband aangeven waarom Nederland in het kader van de Overeenkomst van Dublin uitzettingen continueert naar Griekenland, terwijl dit land de minimumnormen die volgen uit de Europese asielregelgeving niet naleeft?
Toelichting
Deze vragen dienen ter aanvulling op eerdere vragen ter zake van het lid Van der Ham (D66), ingezonden 10 maart 2008 (vraagnummer 2070814250) en van het lid Azough (GroenLinks), ingezonden 13 maart 2008 (vraagnummer 2070814630).
Mehdi Kazemi
Rest ons de stilte rondom Mehdi Kazemi zelf. De berichtgeving int de media staat al enige tijd stil. Wij hopen voor Mehdi dat de verantwoordelijken in Groot Brittannië de geluiden uit Europa en Nederland spoedig zich nemen en de onzekerheid voor Mehdi Kazemi zo spoedig mogelijk weg zullen nemen.
Bestuur PvdA afdeling Oldebroek - Wezep
Source: http://oldebroek.pvda.nl
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Jet |
26-03-08 16:30
Galloway's Iranian propaganda? part 3
It is untrue and deeply offensive to suggest that those of us who oppose homophobic persecution in Iran are backing the bombing and invasion of Iran. We are not.
I am on record in my writings and speeches as opposing an attack on Iran. When, for example, I exposed Tehran's racist and neocolonial persecution of its Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, I stated categorically:
"I am part of a new campaign group, Hands Off the People of Iran (HOPI). HOPI opposes both a US war on Iran and the tyranny of the Iranian regime. My motto is: Neither Washington nor Tehran!
A war against Iran would be another disastrous neo-imperial adventure, which would strengthen the Tehran dictatorship. President Ahmadinejad would play the patriot and manipulate nationalism to rally the population behind him. He would use a US military attack as an excuse to further crack down on dissent in the name of safeguarding national security.
The overthrow of the theocratic police state by the Iranian people - not by US military intervention - is the best way to resolve the nuclear crisis and prevent a needless, unjustified war. With no dictatorship in Tehran, President Bush and the neo cons would lose the rationale for a military strike against Iran."
Galloway's insinuation that I am banging the war drum and siding with imperialism is both laughable and dishonourable.
For nearly 40 years I have supported the Iranian people's struggle against dictatorship, first against the western-backed Shah and, since 1979, against the clerical tyranny of the ayatollahs. I have been totally consistent. I am not suddenly focusing on Iran's human rights abuses and doing the dirty work of the Washington neocons, as Galloway seems to suggest.
Undeterred by criticisms that his outbursts collude with homophobia and with a viciously anti-gay regime in Tehran, Mr Galloway boasts: "I have an unblemished record of support for lesbian and gay equality."
Well, not quite. The Public Whip website (which monitors MPs votes) notes that Galloway did not vote on 8 out of 10 of the major parliamentary votes on gay law reform in recent years. His repeat absence is a strange way to express support for gay rights. Most other MPs turned up to vote. Why not George?
Galloway is, of course, a Respect MP. A commitment to gay rights was entirely absent from Respect's 2005 general election manifesto. Some insiders claim gay equality was originally included but was removed to appease Muslim fundamentalist voters (this apparent assumption by Respect that all Muslims are homophobic fundamentalists is just plain wrong - they are not).
The policy section of the Respect website has included a one-line opposition to discrimination based on sexual orientation but it is hidden away under "other policies". Not exactly upfront.
One of Respect's major funders is Dr Mohammed Naseem. He is a one-time member of their executive and was a Respect parliamentary candidate. He is also a leading member of the Islamic Party of Britain (IPB) which appears to advocate the death penalty for consenting adult homosexuality in certain circumstances.
The IPB is viciously homophobic in other respects too, as it's website explains, and as my OutRage! colleague, Brett Lock, has revealed.
Naseem is a strange bedfellow for a supposedly pro-gay rights MP.
George Galloway was magnificent before the US Senate, exposing the Iraq debacle. Sadly, he now sometimes seems to be exonerating a cruel, unjust regime in Tehran that is responsible for some of the worst state-sanctioned homophobia in the world. This regime is also responsible for the equally heinous persecution of trade unionists, women's rights campaigners, student leaders, human rights advocates, investigative journalists and activists who defend Iran's subjugated minority nationalities, such as the Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis.
Misguided, untruthful attacks on Iranian gay people, the queer rights movement and the pink community do not strengthen the antiwar movement and the struggle against US imperialism. On the contrary, they play straight into the hands of the tyrants in Tehran and their mirror opposites in Washington. They betray all Iranians who are yearning and striving for democracy, human rights, social justice and the self-rule of Iran's oppressed minority nations.
Source:
--->The Guardian click here<---
The end
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Jet |
26-03-08 16:27
Galloway's Iranian propaganda? Part 2
The government of Iran admits that it has the death penalty for homosexuality. Gay people are sometimes tortured to make confessions - even false confessions. Iranian law makes no distinction between consensual and non-consensual same-sex relations. Both are punishable by execution.
If Iran doesn't execute queers, why does it need to retain the death penalty for same-sex relations? Why doesn't it repeal a law it supposedly never enforces? Why doesn't it announce a moratorium on hangings for homosexuality?
As with other dissidents, gay men are usually hanged in public by the barbaric slow strangulation method which is deliberately designed to maximise and prolong the suffering of the victim. These gruesome public barbarisms are also designed to terrorise the gay population.
To discredit the gay people it hangs, and to stir up public homophobia in support of its medieval religious-inspired punishments, the regime sometimes frames gay people with false charges of rape and child sex abuse. It wants to create the impression that homosexuals are monsters, in order to deter men from seeking same-sex relations.
This is what happened in the case of 21-year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh, who was executed in Iran last December. He was hanged for alleged sex offences against male teenagers, when he himself was a mere 13 years old. Amnesty International condemned his trial as "grossly flawed" and a "mockery of justice."
Human Rights Watch reports that Moloudzadeh was coerced and tortured into making a confession. According to Amnesty International, his accusers retracted their sex assault allegations and admitted that they had been pressured into making false claims against him.
Even if Moloudzadeh had been guilty as charged, he should never have been hanged because the alleged offence was committed while he was a minor.
Strong evidence for Moloudzadeh's innocence is the fact that hundreds of villagers turned out for his funeral; which would not have happened if the official Iranian account that he was a child sex abuser was true.
In a second interview on The Wright Stuff, Galloway launched into a scurrilous attack on Medhi's friends and supporters, and the defenders of lesbian, gay and bisexual human rights in Iran, including myself:
"This (Mehdi Kazemi's case) is a useful story for the war propaganda machine, the khaki machine now taking on a tinge of pink....what I will not accept is people being used, as Tatchell is, as the pink end of the war machine. That's what Peter Tatchell has become by attacking Iran in the way that he does."
At the antiwar protest in London on March 15, which I supported and attended, Galloway repeated these claims in his keynote speech. He said the "khaki war machine now has its pink contingent". He went on to imply that people who support gay rights in Iran are "useful idiots" and said their aim is to "bamboozle the public to go along with mass murder in Iran".
End of part TWO, to be continued.
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Jet |
26-03-08 16:22
Galloway's Iranian propaganda?
The Respect MP has turned on supporters of gay rights in Iran and falsely accused us of warmongering
Peter Tatchell
March 26, 2008 10:30 AM | Printable version
George Galloway, the Leftwing Respect MP, has been accused of making allegations that border on paedophile smears and play to homophobic prejudice. He claims that the boyfriend of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for "committing sex crimes against young men".
The insinuation of such a claim is that Mehdi's boyfriend was a rapist or a child sex abuser. It also stigmatises Mehdi with the shame that he was the partner of someone who committed sexual assaults on male youths. He will suffer with this stigma when he is returned to the UK and could face considerable personal hostility from people who have heard and believe these allegations against his boyfriend.
Mr Galloway made his astonishing allegation on Channel Five's The Wright Stuff. You can watch his interview here.
He has been asked to explain the source of his claim, but has so far failed to do so.
I am not aware of any paedophile-style sex abuse claims against Mehdi's partner. Moreover, no human rights group has mentioned any evidence that Mehdi's boyfriend was a rapist or a child molester.
Although the regime in Tehran frequently defames political, religious, ethnic and sexual dissidents with false claims of kidnapping, rape, alcoholism, sodomy, adultery, drug-taking and hooliganism, even the most extreme ayatollahs have not made allegations that Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend was involved in sex abuse.
Nevertheless, Galloway has broadcast this very serious, potentially defamatory, allegation to the British public, and has then failed to back it up with evidence.
To some people, Galloway's claims look like propaganda in defence of the totalitarian, homophobic Islamic Republic of Iran. His passionate opposition to a war against Iran, which I share, seems to have clouded his judgement; leading him to downplay the regime's persecution of lesbians and gays, which includes state-sanctioned executions.
In the same interview for The Wright Stuff, Galloway went on to state: "All the [British] papers seem to imply that you get executed in Iran for being gay. That's not true."
His claim that lesbian and gay people are not at risk of execution in Iran is refuted by every reputable human rights organisation, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the International Lesbian and Gay Association. None of these esteemed bodies are anti-Iran warmongers, as Galloway has subsequently seemed to imply.
The leftwing US journalist, Doug Ireland, has documented cases of the flogging and execution of men who have sex with men in Iran. These are just the cases we know about. It is likely that some similar executions never get media coverage in Iran and are therefore unknown to the outside world.
The Iranian Queer Rights Organisation also confirms that homosexuality is a capital offence and that gay Iranians are subjected to brutal punishments, including torture and hanging.
End of part ONE, to be continued.
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Jet |
25-03-08 19:18
Deportation of Gays to Iran Again Raised in Parliament as Lib Dems Apply Pressure
LONDON, March 19 – The Government is coming under pressure from members of both houses of Parliament, mainly Liberal Democrats, to “come clean” about policies on who are deported to Iran – especially gay men and women.
At lunchtime today at Prime Minister’s Question in the House of Commons, Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, raised the matter, complaining about refugees being deported to Iran.
Gordon Brown replied that while the government faced up to its human rights responsibilities it was important that the asylum system was being used fairly.
Yesterday, Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat) again raised the matter in the House of Lords.
What, Lord Roberts asked, was the Government’s policy on removals to Iran?
“We recognise that there are individuals from Iran who are able to demonstrate a need for international protection, and it is only right that we provide protection to those in genuine fear of persecution,” Lord West of Spithead, the parliamentary under-secretary at the Home Office, replied.
“However, enforcing the return of those who have no right to remain here is a key part of upholding a robust and fair asylum system.”
Lord Roberts didn’t know whether or not to thank Lord West for the reply.
“When people are forcibly removed from the UK, what mechanism is there to monitor the treatment they receive in their homeland,” he asked? “How do we keep an eye on that? And is it not time, in spite of the Minister’s answer, that we joined other countries in having a moratorium on forced return not only to Iran but to other places where folk are persecuted, tortured and possibly even executed?”
Lord West said that the Government is “not aware of any individual who has been executed in Iran in recent years solely on the grounds of homosexuality, and we do not consider that there is systematic persecution of gay men in Iran”.
“However, we have said in our most recent operational guidance note that if a claimant can demonstrate that their homosexual acts have brought them to the attention of the authorities to the extent that they will face a real risk of punishment that will be harsh and will amount to persecution, they should be granted refugee status as a member of a particular social group,” he continued.
“In addition, gay rights activists who have come to the attention of the authorities face a real risk of persecution, and they should be granted asylum as well.”
Lord Corbett of Castle Vale (Labour) asked the Minister to “confirm that there have been 57 critical reports in the United Nations about the repressive nature of the mullahs’ regime in Iran? The abuses of human rights include the amputation of limbs without anaesthetics, the gouging out of eyes, the hanging of convicted minors from the ends of cranes in public and the death penalty for those convicted of homosexuality. Will the Minister take the opportunity to speak to any one of 200 Members of your Lordships’ House who share my views on this vile regime if he needs any other evidence that it is unsafe to return asylum seekers to that regime?”
The Minister could not be drawn. “We are not aware of any individual having been executed solely on the grounds of homosexuality in Iran, and we are not aware of any that we have returned having been executed,” he said.
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat) then asked if the Minister was aware the Country of Origin Information Service report on Iran, published by the Home Office, “is deficient in many ways” and it “omits quite a few public domain references to the persecution of gays in Iran, including in particular the execution of Makwan Mouloudzadeh, a teenager who was executed for a homosexual offence allegedly committed when he was 13”.
“Will the noble Lord make sure that the Home Office Country of Origin Information Service updates its report and that, in particular, it looks at material in the public domain such as that which one can find on Wikipedia,” he asked?
Lord West said that the government would do so.
“It is worth repeating that we have concerns about the treatment of gays within Iran,” Lord West added.
“However, in the one case that we looked into, because it was shown on television, we found that two young males were hanged because they were found guilty of raping a 13 year-old boy.
“They were hanged for the offence of rape,”. He continued. “Nevertheless, we certainly will look at the point that the noble Lord raises, as we need to do so.”
Source: --->UKgaynews click here<---
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Jet |
25-03-08 00:15
Don’t Believe Iranian Propaganda on Gays, Urges Gay Humanists
Government's “no evidence” claim slammed
LONDON, March 24, 2008 – The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has demanded that the Government clarify its approach to the deportation of gay people to Iran after a spokesman in the House of Lords claimed there was no evidence that gays were being executed because of their sexuality.
“It is quite extraordinary that the Minister can claim that there is no evidence of gays being executed in Iran,” GALHA spokesman Jim Herrick said this morning.
“He seems more inclined to believe the propaganda of the Iranian authorities than the independent reports of organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which testify to the risk of execution faced by gay Iranians.
“GALHA is writing to the Home Secretary, Jacquie Smith, asking for clarification of the Government's stance on this issue, Mr. Hendrick added.
Last week, during a debate on asylum seekers, Lord West of Spithead, who is Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, said: “We are not aware of any individual who has been executed in Iran recently solely on the grounds of homosexuality, and we do not consider that there is systematic persecution of gay men in Iran.” [Hansard 18 Mar 2008 : Column 142]
Despite being challenged by fellow peers, the Minister continued to insist that there is no evidence that “any individual having been executed solely on the grounds of homosexuality”.
A week previously, Lord Avebury drew to the Government’s attention the case of Makwan Mouloudzadeh, a teenager who was executed for a homosexual offence allegedly committed when he was 13.
Lord West responded by saying that in the case of the two teenagers whose execution was shown on television, “they were hanged because they were found guilty of raping a 13 year old boy. They were hanged for the offence of rape” [Hansard 11 Mar 2008 : Column 1400]
Source: --->UKgaynews click here<---
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Jet |
21-03-08 17:04
Links deporteert homo 21-03-08 | 14:29
Door sodomengomorra | Eede
Het blijft doodstil in de hoek van links-meelevend-solidair Nederland nu staatssecretaris Albayrak heeft besloten tot de uitzetting van de Iraanse jongeman Mehdi Kazemi. Mehdi is homo en loopt een gerede kans in Iran te worden opgehangen aan een bouwkraan.
Indertijd heeft ook Rita Verdonk plannen gehad om tot uitzetting van homo’s over te gaan en u raadt het al: de wereld, althans Nederland, was te klein. Nu het echter een actie van Albayrak betreft zwijgt de goegemeente in alle talen. De verklaring daarvoor is helder: nu links eindelijk een allochtone staatsecretaris heeft die het aardig lijkt te doen dient zij van iedere kritiek gevrijwaard te blijven. Dat mag dan Mehdi misschien het leven gaan kosten maar dat zou u niet mogen verbazen: linkse mensen hebben door de eeuwen heen geen enkel probleem gehad met het opofferen van levens van anderen als daar een of ander abstract en hoger doel mee leek te worden gediend. Waar gehakt wordt vallen spaanders op de weg naar een samenleving die van rechtvaardigheid, solidariteit, gevangenkampen en nekschoten aan elkaar hangt.
Source: --->WUZ.nl click here<---
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Jet |
17-03-08 20:28
13. März 2008
Keine Abschiebung Homosexueller in den Iran
Zur drohenden Abschiebung eines 19-jährigen homosexuellen Iraners aus Großbritannien in den Iran erklärt Volker Beck, Erster Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer und menschenrechtspolitischer Sprecher:
Es darf keine Abschiebung von Homosexuellen in den Iran geben. Wir fordern die britische Regierung eindringlich auf, keine Homosexuellen in den Iran abzuschieben. Eine Abschiebung von Homosexuellen in den Iran kann einer verwaltungsrechtlichen Hinrichtung gleichkommen.
In Schreiben an die britische Botschaft und das britische Innenministerium haben wir uns gegen eine Abschiebung des homosexuellen Iraners Mehdi Kazemi gewandt. Der Asylantrag des 19-jährigen Iraners ist in Großbritannien abgelehnt worden, woraufhin er in die Niederlande flüchtete. Er befindet sich derzeit dort in Abschiebehaft.
In der aktuellen Hinrichtungswelle im Rahmen der Moralkampagne des iranischen Regimes werden auch Homosexuelle und Oppositionelle hingerichtet. Der Freund von Mehdi Kazemi wurde bereits verurteilt und gehängt. Die Bundesregierung hat uns gegenüber erst jüngst bestätigt, dass Homosexualität als Tatvorwurf in einem Fall im Juli 2007 sogar in einem iranischen Pressebericht erwähnt wurde.
Der Abschiebung von Homosexuellen in den Iran steht die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention entgegen. Ihnen drohen im Iran regelmäßig erniedrigende und grausame Strafen (100 Stockschläge) oder/und die Todesstrafe (meist auch noch in besonders grausamer Form: Steinigung, Hängen durch Ersticken). Seit der Machtübernahme der Mullahs im Jahre 1979 sind nach Angaben von Menschenrechtsorganisationen mindestens 4.000 Menschen wegen Homosexualität hingerichtet worden.
Source: --->Gruene im Bundestag click here<---
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Jet |
16-03-08 19:11
Homo mag even blijven vr 14 mrt 2008
Eerst moest 'ie vertrekken uit Groot-Brittanië en Nederland, maar voorlopig mag hij toch blijven: de Iranier Mehdi Kazemi die hier asiel had aangevraagd omdat hij homo is. De jongen van 19 is bang dat hij in zijn vaderland de doodstraf krijgt voor zijn geaardheid. Zijn vriend is daar namelijk al ter dood veroordeeld.
Maar homoseksualiteit was volgens de Britten geen reden om een verblijfsvergunning te krijgen. De jongen probeerde daarna in Nederland asiel te krijgen, maar ook dat mislukte. Uiteindelijk gaat Groot-Brittanië onder druk van het Europees parlement nu toch nog eens kijken naar de asielaanvraag van de jongen.
In Nederland mag de man niet blijven, want volgens de Europese wet mag een persoon die asiel aanvraagt dat maar één keer doen. De 19-jarige Iraniër heeft eerder asiel in Engeland aangevraagd en mag het daarom in Nederland niet nog eens proberen. In Engeland kan de man een herhaal-asiel indienen, maar zijn situatie is niet veranderd.
Dus de kans is klein dat het hem nog een keer lukt.
Kazemi zit nu in een detentiecentrum in Rotterdam, zodat hij niet in de illegaliteit belandt. Hij overweegt naar het Europese Hof in Straatsburg te stappen. Boris van der Ham van de D66 heeft kamervragen gesteld over de zaak, want de man loopt het risico opgehangen te worden in Iran, net als zijn vriend.
In Groot-Brittannië is er nu een flinke discussie gaande: de regering zegt dat als hij zich gedeisd houdt, er geen gevaar voor hem dreigt. Maar zijn naam is nu bij de Europese media bekend, dus anoniem is hij niet meer. Zestig Europarlementariërs hebben een verzoek bij Gordon Brown ingediend om zijn uitzetting te stoppen.
Source: --->NOS headlines click here<---
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Christie |
16-03-08 16:35
PvdA eindelijk eens in actie...
Aan : PvdA fractie in de Tweede kamer der Staten Generaal
PvdA Euro parlementariërs
Staatssecretaris Mevr. Nebahat Albayrak
Betreft : Behandeling asielaanvraag Mehdi Kazemi
De diverse berichtgevingen in de media aangaande de behandeling van de asielaanvraag van de Iraniër Mehdi Kazemi baren ons grote zorgen. Het volgende willen wij met nadruk met u delen.
Op donderdagavond 13 maart 2008 heeft de Algemene Ledenvergadering van de PvdA afdeling Oldebroek – Wezep unaniem haar grote zorg uitgesproken over de wijze waarop asielaanvraag van Mehdi Kazemi tot op heden in behandeling blijkt. De ons bekende informatie doet ons vrezen voor het leven van Mehdi Kazemi als er wordt overgegaan tot uitzetting naar Iran.
Sinds de ochtend van 14 maart 2008 weten wij via de media dat Groot-Britannië de asielaanvraag van Mehdi Kazemi in heroverweging neemt “in het licht van nieuwe omstandigheden”. Dat dit pas een feit is ná druk vanuit, onder andere, het Europese Parlement en maatschappij maakt onze zorgen echter niet minder. Wij vertrouwen er immers op dat er zeer nauwkeurig wordt omgegaan met asielaanvragen én de bewaking van mensenrechten, door Nederland én de Europese partners.
Wij roepen u, onze sociaal-democratische collega’s in parlement en regering, op tot sterke politieke en bestuurlijke betrokkenheid aangaande het dossier én de (mensen-)rechten van Mehdi Kazemi en om uw krachten in te zetten voor een verantwoorde, transparante, humane en nauwkeurige behandeling door de Britse overheid, mocht Mehdi overgedragen worden aan deze Europese Partner.
Het kan niet mogelijk zijn dat Nederland een medemens in onmenselijke onzekerheid laat, direct of indirect in levensgevaar (laat) brengen vanwege zijn of haar seksuele voorkeur. Daarom vragen wij, vol bezorgdheid, uw bijzondere aandacht en inzet.
Namens de leden van de PvdA afdeling Oldebroek – Wezep,
Sijmen Scholten
Secretaris PvdA Oldebroek - Wezep
-> link naar pdf file
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Jet |
15-03-08 18:56
The following is an open letter from DELGA and the Liberal Democrats to the Home Secretary, in response to the situation of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay asylum seeker from Iran. We welcome anyone who wishes to add their name - Lib Dem or not.
To JACQUI SMITH MP, HOME SECRETARY:Dear Home Secretary,
We are extremely concerned at reports of the case of Mehdi Kazemi, a 19-year-old gay Iranian who has been refused asylum in Britain. He had claimed asylum on the grounds that his former boyfriend has been hanged in Iran for his homosexuality and, under interrogation, had named Mr. Kazemi as his partner. Mr. Kazemi fears that if he is forced to return to Iran he, too, will be hanged.
Please tell us urgently:
1) Why was Mr. Kazemi refused asylum in apparent breach of Home Office guidelines to immigration officers?
2) How is this decision justified against our commitments to international agreements on refugees?
3) How many gay, lesbian and bisexual asylum-seekers have been turned down by the British Government in the last ten years and returned to countries where homosexuality is punishable by death?
4) Can you assure us that, if Mr. Kazemi is returned to Britain from Holland - where he is now appealing against deportation - that he will be granted asylum here?
Source: --->DELGA click here<---
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Jet |
15-03-08 18:34
Liberal Democrats welcome review of Mehdi Kazemi case
14 March 2008
Responding to Jacqui Smith’s announcement that the case of gay Iranian teenager Mehdi Kazemi is to be reconsidered after concerns that he could face execution if removed to his homeland, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:
"This decision is not before time.
"There should be no deportations of gay people back to Iran while we know the fate that lies in store for them."
Commenting further, Liberal Democrat MP for Southwark and North Bermondsey, Simon Hughes, who has campaigned on behalf of Mehdi Kazemi, said:
"This public confirmation of the Government’s position is very welcome.
"I hope Mr Kazemi will now come back to Britain where arrangements are already in place for an urgent meeting with him, his family, specialist lawyers and myself to prepare a new application to the Home Office.
"It is becoming more and more clear that sending gay people back to Iran under the present regime is completely unacceptable."
Applicability: this item refers to the UK.
Source: --->Liberal Democrats click here<---
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Jet |
15-03-08 18:12
12-3-2008
EP: VK en Nederland, stuur Kazemi niet terug naar Iran
Het Europees Parlement doet een dringend beroep op de EU-lidstaten, en het Verenigd Koninkrijk in het bijzonder, om een oplossing te vinden voor de situatie van de homoseksuele Iraniër Mehdi Kazemi. Zijn terugkeer naar Iran lijkt reëel. Aldaar wacht hem waarschijnlijk de doodstraf.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert: "Nederland handelt in lijn met de Europese asielregels. Het land van binnenkomst is verantwoordelijk (in deze het VK). Echter, Nederland gaat voorbij aan het feit dat deze regels, en in het bijzonder de zgn. Dublin verordening, wel degelijk mogelijkheden biedt om in specifieke gevallen een uitzondering te maken. Nu Nederland besloten heeft die mogelijkheid niet te benutten, verwacht ik van NL - evenals van andere Europese lidstaten - maximale druk op de Britse autoriteiten. Ieder mens met ´n beetje verstand begrijpt dat het leven van Mehdi Kazemi gevaar loopt zodra hij voet op Iraanse bodem zet. Dit is in strijd met Europese en internationale regelgeving. De Europese Unie beschouwt zichzelf, en terecht, als voorvechter van de mensenrechten op het wereldtoneel. De uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi laten gebeuren, is dan simpelweg een grof schandaal."
Noot:
De Raad van State heeft het hoger beroep van de homoseksuele Iraanse asielzoeker Mehdi Kazemi ongegrond verklaard. Kazemi wordt teruggestuurd naar Groot-Brittanië, alwaar hij dreigt te worden uitgezet naar Iran. De Raad van State heeft de bezwaren van Kazemi afgewezen omdat hij eerder in Groot-Brittannië een asielaanvraag heeft gedaan. Dat verzoek is al afgewezen, maar Kazemi kan in het VK nog in hoger beroep gaan en dus moet volgens de Raad van State eerst die procedure gevolgd worden. Op grond van het Dublin Akkoord is het eerste land waar iemand een asielaanvraag doet verantwoordelijk voor de behandeling van zijn procedure. Nederland zou zijn zaak daarom niet in behandeling kunnen nemen.
Source: --->VVDwebsite click here<---
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Jet |
13-03-08 18:42
Gay Iranian teenager spared deportation
Thursday, 13 Mar 2008 16:28
Smith halts deportation of gay Iranian
An Iranian teenager facing deportation and possible death in Iran has been granted a reprieve by the home secretary.
Jacqui Smith has said 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi's case for asylum should be reconsidered.
It follows the intervention of more than 60 peers who wrote to the home secretary warning that he faced execution if deported to Iran.
Mr Kazemi's former boyfriend has already been hanged after being arrested for sodomy.
His family feared his own life was in danger after learning in 2006 that Mr Kazemi was named by his former partner under interrogation.
Mr Kazemi arrived in Britain in 2005 but was denied asylum, even though homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Ms Smith said today: "Following representations made on behalf of Mehdi Kazemi, and in the light of new circumstances since the original decision was made, I have decided that Mr Kazemi's case should be reconsidered on his return to the UK from the Netherlands."
Lord Woolf, Betty Boothroyd, Shirley Williams, Paddy Ashdown and David Steel were among the 63 peers that wrote to the home secretary calling for a reprieve.
The petition, organised by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Roberts, said: "We members of the House of Lords are deeply concerned at the possible execution of Mehdi Kazemi if he is refused asylum in the UK and is deported to Iran.
"His former partner has been executed there. We urge her Majesty's government to show compassion and allow Mr Kazemi to have a safe haven in the UK."
Source: http://www.politics.co.uk/news/opinion-former-index/foreign-policy/gay-iranian-teenager-spared-deportation-$1212270.htm
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Jet |
13-03-08 17:32
Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend defamed
LONDON, 13 March 2008 –
George Galloway MP is accused of mouthing "the propaganda of the Iranian dictatorship" after he claimed on the Channel 5 TV talk show The Wright Stuff this morning that the boyfriend of gay asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for sex crimes. (see full transcript below).
The criticism comes from the gay human rights group, OutRage!.
"We are calling on George Galloway to explain the source of his claim that Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend had committed sex crimes and this was the reason he was executed," said OutRage! spokesperson, Brett Lock.
Mr Galloway also denied that Iran executes homosexuals.
"Neither OutRage! nor any other human rights group has seen any evidence to suggest that Mr Kazemi's partner was a rapist or sex-abuser."
"George Galloway has made this claim. He should now produce the evidence."
"This looks like the Iranian propaganda. The homophobic tyrants in Tehran frequently defame political, religious, and sexual dissidents with false claims of rape, alcoholism, drug-taking and hooliganism.
But in this case, not even the Iranian authorities have made these allegations against Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend," noted Mr Lock.
"Furthermore, Mr Galloway's claim that gay people are not executed in Iran is refuted by every reputable human rights body, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Iran has the death penalty for homosexuality and gay people are often tortured to make confessions. They are hanged in public by the barbaric slow strangulation method which is deliberately designed to maximise and prolong the suffering of the victim," said Mr Lock.
TRANSCRIPT
GG: The Independent has a story about Peers calling upon the Home Secretary to halt the deportation of a gay Iranian. In part this is being used as part of the on-going propaganda against Iran. All the papers seem to imply that you get executed in Iran for being gay. That's not true.
MW: His boyfriend was hung though, wasn't he?
GG: Yes, but nor being gay. For uh, committing sex crimes, uh, against young men.
MW: Right...
GG: I mean, I'm against execution for any reason in any place, but it
is important to avoid that propaganda.
MW: So you're saying that his guy they want to deport should be deported because there is no risk of his sexuality .. or he shouldn't be deported because there is at risk?
GG: He should not be deported not least because after all this Iranian propaganda he will be accused of being the source, or one of the sources. It would be ridiculous to deport him, and I don't think he will be deported now.
Videoclip: --->The Wright Stuff click here<---
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Jet |
13-03-08 11:25
Philip Hensher: There is no logic to our treatment of Mehdi Kazemi
Let's make an effort and consider quite why the British authorities are resistant to Mehdi Kazemi's claim for political asylum. You can hear the argument. The world is full of difficult situations; the world is full of people whose lifestyle or convictions make existence hard in their native countries. A line, the officials will argue, has to be drawn somewhere.
If it becomes known that the UK has let one young Iranian homosexual stay in this country on the grounds that Iran hangs homosexuals, it will be said, then the country will be the target of all Iranian homosexuals seeking a more tolerant climate. And that will not be the end of it. Plenty of people live difficult lives. Women in large parts of the world endure oppression and limitation. In some cultures, they are at risk of enforced genital mutilation, for instance. In others, women known to have committed adultery will be targets for brutal judicial treatment. Should all such cases be permitted to enter the United Kingdom?
And, the officials will go on to argue, it is not just that the admission of one genuine case will open the floodgates for hundreds or thousands of other genuine cases. The knowledge that the UK will accept homosexuals under threat as asylum-seekers will, undoubtedly, encourage people who are not under any threat at all, and are not even homosexual, to claim that they are in order to take advantage of the UK's more liberal way of life and more successful economic prospects. How many people are there living in what we would consider oppressive political regimes who might be prepared to tell a lie about their sexuality if it would reliably gain them entry to the UK?
That is how the argument is going to run. But we're not talking about thousands of potential asylum seekers, or a situation that hasn't taken shape yet. We are talking, unfortunately, about one tragic and terrifying case, and about one 19-year-old who we are seriously proposing to send back to Iran, where he may very well be executed.
Mehdi Kazemi claimed asylum in 2005 after his lover was hanged in Tehran for homosexual acts. Before he was hanged, Mr Kazemi believes, his lover named him to the authorities. In any case, even if he did not, the Iranian authorities certainly know about him now. His appeal to the British authorities for asylum failed, and he fled to the Netherlands to seek asylum there. His claim failed once again, and as I write, he is expected to be returned to Britain. Subsequently, perhaps in the next 72 hours, he will be sent back to Iran to meet his fate.
Homosexuals in Iran are treated in a number of ways. A remarkable television documentary a few weeks ago detailed the burgeoning sex-change industry in Iran. Under the encouragement of the mullahs, no distinction is made between heterosexual transsexuals and what we would see, clearly, as homosexuals with no desire to change their sex. A plain homosexual who is willing to accede to a sex-change is not treated as a criminal, but regarded as a transsexual. His sex will be altered, at what cost in human misery, the television documentary heartbreakingly chronicled. A homosexual who carries out homosexual acts is regarded as a criminal. He will be hanged.
The logic of the British authorities defies description. It seems incredible that they seriously suppose Mr Kazemi might put himself in the awful category of homosexual before the Iranian law in the hope that some Western country would accept him as an asylum-seeker. Is their argument that Mr Kazemi would not, in fact, face any danger if returned to Iran? That seems completely unjustified. Do they disbelieve his story, and think him an opportunistic chancer? That is so unlikely that we would like to know the evidence on which they have based their conclusion. Or are they merely worried that Mr Kazemi's case, even if completely genuine, even if refusal might lead to his brutal execution, would incite a great flood of genuine and bogus homosexual asylum-seekers from every corner of the world which the country could not cope with? Is it entirely impossible that Mr Kazemi's case has been dealt with by officials who regard a 19-year-old homosexual, and the state of homosexuality itself, with frank distaste? It seems more than likely.
The trouble is that Mr Kazemi is not, by now, a case or a precedent. He is a human being in a situation that we can thank God few of us will ever face. If the Home Office decide to send him back to Iran, they can congratulate themselves on having maintained their arbitrary rule about who does or does not qualify for asylum. Few of us, however, will congratulate ourselves on living, we discover, in a country whose officials hardly seem to notice any more when they have blood on their hands.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/ philip-hensher/philip-hensher-there-is-no-logic-to-our-treatment-of-mehdi-kazemi-794924.html
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Jet |
13-03-08 11:17
Peers lobby Smith to halt deportation of gay Iranian
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Thursday, 13 March 2008
More than 60 peers have signed a letter to the Home Secretary urging the Government to halt the deportation of a gay Iranian teenager who faces execution if he is returned to his homeland.
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, has lost his claim for asylum in Britain, even though his family has told the Home Office that his life is in danger after his former boyfriend in Iran was arrested and hanged for sodomy. The case has now attracted worldwide attention and, last night, 63 members of the House of Lords signed a letter to Jacqui Smith calling on the Government to show compassion and to grant Mr Kazemi sanctuary in Britain.
Among those pressing the Government to help Mr Kazemi are Lord Woolf, the former lord chief justice; Betty Boothroyd, the former speaker of the House of Commons; and Shirley Williams, Julia Neuberger, Paddy Ashdown, David Steel, Lord Lester QC and the Bishop of Liverpool, as well as a number of senior Labour peers.
In the letter, the peers say: "We members of the House of Lords are deeply concerned at the possible execution of Mehdi Kazemi if he is refused asylum in the UK and is deported to Iran. His former partner has been executed there. We urge Her Majesty's Government to show compassion and allow Mr Kazemi to have a safe haven in the UK."
It is understood that some government ministers privately support the peers' intervention, but for constitutional reasons are unable to put their names to the document. The letter is also supported by Mr Kazemi's family, who issued their own plea to the Home Secretary yesterday.
Mr Kazemi's uncle, Saeed, asked Ms Smith to take pity on his nephew, whom he said was confronting a terrible fate that could end in his death. "After losing his case he is so afraid now of what might happen to him," said Saeed, who has lived in Britain for 31 years. "He is living a nightmare which no young man should ever have to experience. I have been told that there is an arrest warrant in his name issued by the Iranian government police. If he goes back, his life will be in danger. I urge Ms Smith to please reconsider his case."
Lord Roberts of Llandudno, the Liberal Democrat peer who organised the petition, said last night that he was seeking an urgent meeting with a Home Office minister to discuss Mr Kazemi's case and deliver the letter.
On Tuesday Mr Kazemi lost his legal battle to have his claim for asylum heard in the Netherlands, where he had fled after his application for refugee status was rejected by the Home Office last year. He is expected to be sent back to the UK in the next 72 hours, when he will be detained before his removal to Iran.
Yesterday his MP, Simon Hughes, confirmed his own support for Mr Kazemi. Mr Hughes, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bermondsey and Southwark, said the Home Office had assured him that the case would be reconsidered.
He said: "As Mehdi's British MP, and someone who has been supporting him and his family since December 2006, I am prepared for Mehdi's return to the UK. As soon as Mehdi is back in the UK, I will meet him and his family and make official representations through the proper channels, with the help of the best legal support. The Home Office has assured me that they will then reconsider Mehdi's case."
He added: "I remain very clear that the UK should not be deporting gay and lesbian people to Iran, where all the evidence shows they will be persecuted. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I are hoping to persuade the Government to change its policy before anybody else in a similar position is returned to Iran."
In a separate move, the European Parliament is expected to debate Mr Kazemi's case today.
Mr Kazemi came to study in Britain in 2005. But after one year he was told by his family in Tehran that his former boyfriend had been questioned about his sexual relationships before his execution in April 2006 and had named him under interrogation.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/peers-lobby--smith-to-halt-deportation-of-gay-iranian-794995.html
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13-03-08 09:53
Actie tegen uitzetting Iraanse homo
13-03-2008 | Door: DAG
D66: 'Leven jongen loopt gevaar'.
Staatssecretaris Albayrak (Justitie) moet voorkomen dat de Iraanse homoseksueel Mehdi Kazemi (19) teruggestuurd wordt naar zijn geboorteland. Dat vinden het D66-Kamerlid Boris van der Ham, Kazemi’s advocaat Borg Palm en een aantal belangenorganisaties van homoseksuelen. Omdat Iran homo’s zwaar discrimineert, zou Kazemi’s leven gevaar bij terugkeer gevaar lopen, zeggen zij.
De Iraniër zit nu in vreemdelingendetentie in Rotterdam. Dinsdag verloor hij bij de Raad van State het hoger beroep in zijn asielprocedure. De hoogste bestuursrechter oordeelde dat Kazemi geen recht heeft op een Nederlandse verblijfsstatus, omdat hij eerder asiel heeft aangevraagd in het Verenigd Koninkrijk.
Toen de Britten zijn asielverzoek afwezen, vluchtte de Iraniër naar Nederland. Daar diende hij een nieuw asielverzoek in. Volgens de regels van de Europese Unie mag een vluchteling maar in één EU-land asiel aanvragen. Nederland mag Kazemi dus uitzetten naar Groot-Brittannië, het land van zijn eerste poging.
Zijn verdedigers vrezen dat de Britten Kazemi linea recta op het vliegtuig naar Iran zullen zetten. Zijn Britse asielverzoek liep stuk omdat volgens de Engelse rechtbank een aantal data in zijn dossier niet overeen kwam met het verhaal van de jongen zelf. Kazemi’s medestanders wijten dat aan het feit dat in Iran een andere kalender geldt dan in Europa.
Van der Ham heeft over deze zaak Kamervragen gesteld aan Albayrak. Hij wil dat zij van de Britten een garantie lospeutert dat zij Kazemi niet terugsturen. Het ministerie van Justitie wil niet reageren zolang de Kamervragen nog op antwoord wachten.
Amnesty International bemoeit zich (nog) niet met de zaak. Woordvoerder Ruud Bosgraaf: ‘We kunnen er weinig over zeggen omdat we Kazemi’s dossier niet kennen. Maar het is absoluut zo dat je in Iran iets te vrezen hebt als je daar bekend bent als homoseksueel. Daarom is in deze zaak zeker voorzichtigheid geboden.
Source: --->Dag click here<---
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13-03-08 09:47
Ook GroenLinks tegen uitzetting Iraanse homo
(Novum)
Ook GroenLinks verzet zich tegen de uitzetting van de Iraanse homoseksueel M.K. naar Groot-Brittannië. Eerder maakten het COC en D66-Kamerlid Boris van der Ham zich al hard voor de man. Ze willen dat staatssecretaris van Justitie Nebahat Albayrak (PvdA) ervan afziet hem uit te zetten, zolang niet zeker is of hij vervolgens wordt teruggestuurd naar Iran. Zijn partner is in Iran geëxecuteerd vanwege zijn geaardheid.
Nederland mag onder geen beding het risico lopen dat M.K. uiteindelijk hetzelfde lot te wachten staat, stelt GroenLinks. "Nederland heeft zich, net als de rest van de EU, verplicht om asielzoekers niet terug te sturen naar landen waar ze gevaar lopen. Nu dat toch dreigt te gebeuren, riskeren Nederland en de EU schending van het Europese Verdrag inzake de Rechten van de Mens", aldus de partij. GroenLinks heeft Albayrak om opheldering gevraagd.
In Nederland krijgen Iraanse homoseksuele asielzoekers asiel zonder dat er een individuele toetsing plaatsvindt, omdat in Nederland wordt erkend dat homoseksuelen in Iran niet veilig zijn. Groot-Brittannië biedt die veiligheid niet. Omdat K. echter eerst in Groot-Brittannië en daarna in Nederland een asielaanvraag heeft ingediend, moet hij zijn procedure, volgens EU-regels, daar afronden.
Het COC heeft woensdag opgeroepen Albayrak een mail te sturen met het dringende verzoek M. K. asiel te verlenen.
Source: --->Trouw click here<---
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12-03-08 21:02
Kamervragen Mehdi Kazemi
De 19-jarige Iranese homoseksuele asielzoeker Mehdi Kazemi dreigt door Nederland te worden teruggestuurd naar Groot-Brittannië. De Raad van State heeft deze week zijn hoger beroep afgewezen en daarmee de weg vrijgemaakt voor zijn uitzetting naar Groot-Brittannië, waar hij een groot risico loopt uitgezet te worden naar Iran. De Raad van State wees de bezwaren van Mehdi af, omdat hij eerder al in Groot-Brittannië een asielaanvraag deed die daar werd afgewezen.
D66 Kamerlid Boris van der Ham stelde vorige week Kamervragen aan staatssecretaris van Justitie Albayrak over deze zaak. Hij vroeg of zij bereid is de uitzetting van Mehdi naar Groot-Brittannië op te schorten totdat er zekerheid is dat de jongen niet naar Iran zal worden uitgezet. Het antwoord luidde dat Albayrak uitgaat van het interstatelijk vertrouwensbeginsel; Groot-Brittannië zal een dergelijk geval niet uitleveren als zijn leven in gevaar is.
Van der Ham twijfelt hier sterk aan. ‘De kans is groot dat hij ter dood wordt veroordeeld als hij terug moet naar Iran. We hebben de afspraak dat we gevallen zoals Mehdi Kazemi hier houden.’ Het ministerie van Justitie wilde gisteren geen uitspraken doen.
Voor Groot-Brittannië is de homoseksualiteit van de Iraniër geen reden voor een verblijfsvergunning. Als een homo in Iran zich gedeisd houdt, hoeft hij niet voor zijn leven te vrezen, zo luidt het officiële standpunt. Mehdi heeft inmiddels de islam afgezworen en is christen geworden.
De Europese moederpartij ELDR zal donderdag een resolutie indienen waarin ze oproepen om Mehdi Kazemi asiel te verlenen. Deze resolutie is mede ondertekend door D66 Europarlementariër Sophie in ’t Veld.
De advocaat van Mehdi Kazemi, de heer Palm, is inmiddels bezig met een spoedprocedure bij het Europees Hof. Hij dringt er bij Justitie op aan niet tot uitzetting naar Groot-Brittannië over te gaan zolang die procedure niet is afgerond. De heer Palm heeft tijdens de uitzending van Pauw en Witteman van dinsdagavond een toelichting gegeven over de huidige situatie.
Source: --->Boris van der Ham click here<---
Lees hier in het engels wat CBS News over deze zaak schrijft! --->CBSnews click here<---
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12-03-08 17:44
Sorry, but the gay Iranian teenager has to be deported
March 12, 2008
Dear Jacqui Smith,
Your performance as Home Secretary has left a lot to be desired. I’m not sure how much control you have over your job, seeing as Uncle Gordon seems to want to run everyone else’s department in addition to being PM, but if you do have any control then I suggest you stand firm on the issue of deporting Mehdi Kazemi back to Iran.
Yes, he’s gay, and yes, he’s only 19, but I get really sick and tired of the law on this issue. For the law to say that no-one should be returned to their native country if they may be in danger is simply ridiculous, not because of what it aims to do but because of the inability to use common sense on deportations. If Mehdi Kazemi is not deported, the UK will have absolutely no right to refuse granting asylum to anyone who claims they are in danger (or indeed if someone simply claims to be gay and from a particular country). This whole issue of people claiming they are in danger is so open to abuse that it is farcical. I remember a Big Brother contestant a few years ago who engaged in some fairly lurid behaviour on TV, only to then claim that she would be in danger if she returned to her home country because of what she did on TV. If someone breaks the law in their homeland, why should we pick up the tab for it? Obviously our views on homosexuality in this country are more liberal than in other parts of the world, but where does this end? At what point do we start and stop superimposing our own views onto the laws of other countries? How would we like it if another country refused to deport lawbreakers back to the UK? Of course I’d like to see other countries accept homosexual relationships in the same way we do here, but if they choose not to then it is not our place to ‘overrule’ them.
The fact of the matter is that regardless of individual circumstances, the UK cannot be used as a sanctuary to people who claim to be chased by their government or wanted by the police. If you break the law in one country, you should not use another country to bail you out. I hope you uphold your previous rulings on this matter because if you don’t, the floodgates will open and the (already broken) system will fall apart.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Source: http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/sorry-but-the-gay-iranian-teenager-has-to-be-deported/
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10-03-08 17:55
Milano: incontro radicali lombardi-Pd regionale
Milano, 7 marzo 2008
Infine è stata decisa un’immediata mobilitazione comune per salvare la vita di Mehdi Kazemi, omosessuale iraniano condannato all’impiccagione a Teheran per il suo orientamento sessuale. E’ necessario scongiurare l’estradizione di Mehdi che attualmente è in stato di fermo in Olanda, questo l’obiettivo di PD e Radicali.
Per info Valerio Federico 335-8256736, Luca Nevola 349-7338280, Luca Perego 338-1586229
Source: --->Radicali.it click here<---
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10-03-08 15:13
Mehdi Kazemi Must Stay – No Deportation to Iran
by Peter Tatchell
March 7, 2008
Mehdi must stay – No deportation to Iran
The Home Office bid to deport an Iranian gay asylum seeker will put him at risk of arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution.
London – 7 March 2008
Gay Iranian asylum applicant Mehdi Kazemi is in detention in the Netherlands. He is fighting attempts by the Dutch government to return him to the UK. Mehdi fled Britain and sought asylum in the Netherlands because the British government wants to deport him back to Iran. The gay human rights group OutRage! campaigns on asylum issues and supports Mehdi Kazemi’s claim for refugee status. OutRage! spokesperson Peter Tatchell said: “The Home Office decision to deport Mehdi back to Iran is shameful and reckless. “If returned to Tehran, he will be at risk of imprisonment, torture and execution. “Gay men in Iran are hanged from public cranes using the barbaric method of slow strangulation, which is deliberately designed to cause maximum suffering. “This deportation order borders on a criminal decision. It violates the government’s legal obligations under the Refugee Convention. “The Home Office country report on Iran ignores the true scale of homophobic repression, in order to justify the deportation of lesbian and gay Iranians. “I have been tipped off by a senior Home Office official that government orders are to cut asylum numbers at almost any price. “Staff are encouraged to assume that all asylum applicants are bogus and to play down the merits of individual cases, such as Medhi’s,” said Mr Tatchell. Background Here is the Everyone organisation’s link about Medhi’s case. Please scroll down to read Mehdi’s own statement, as given to the Iranian Queer Rights Organisation: http://www.everyonegroup.com/
Need to reform the handling of LGBT asylum claims “The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP, must urgently remedy her department’s five failings with regard to the treatment of LGBT asylum claimants,” added Mr Tatchell. “Currently, the Home Office stands accused of: - No training on sexual orientation issues for asylum staff and adjudicators - No explicit official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation - No action to stamp out the abuse of LGBT refugees in UK asylum detention camps - No accurate, up-to-date information on the victimisation of LGBT people in violently homophobic countries - No access to adequate legal representation for LGBT asylum applicants “These are systemic failings by a callous and indifferent government that is more interested in cutting asylum numbers than in ensuring a fair, just and compassionate asylum system,” concluded Mr Tatchell.
Peter Tatchell is the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford East
Source: --->Gayswithoutborders click here<---
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08-03-08 18:27
Incident concerning Iranian citizen Medhi Kazemi
Rome February 25 2008
Sources at the foreign ministry in Rome report that this evening the Chief of Foreign Minister D’Alema’s Cabinet Ambassador Ferdinando Nelli Feroci made a telephone démarche to the British chargé d’affaires Alastair McPhail regarding the incident concerning Iranian citizen Medhi Kazemi, who risks deportation from the UK to Iran.
If Kazemi, who was refused political asylum in the past by the British authorities, were to be sent back to Iran he would face charges of homosexuality, an offence ruled in that country as punishable by death.
Specifying that he spoke on behalf of Minister for Foreign Affairs Massimo D’Alema, Ambassador Nelli Feroci launched an appeal in the name of humanitarian values to the British authorities that they reconsider the case and grant political asylum or, in any case, revoke the deportation order, thereby avoiding exposing Iranian citizen Medhi Kazemi to a condemnation that could lead to the death penalty.
Source: --->Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs click here<---
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08-03-08 18:09
LGBT Greens: don't deport Mehdi Kazemi back to Iran
6 March 2008
Summary
LGBT Greens: don't deport Mehdi Kazemi back to Iran UK- recognise special group status of LGBT people
UK- recognise special group status of LGBT people
Reacting to news of the possible deportation of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay, Iranian threatened with death, LGBT Greens have today called for a re-evaluation of his case and better decision-making regarding asylum across Europe.
Reacting to the news that Mr Kazemi could be deported, Phelim Mac Cafferty said, "Mehdi Kazemi is a gay Iranian man who while studying in the UK learnt of the hanging of a former boyfriend. Fearing the worst for himself, he applied and failed to get asylum from the British authorities in 2006. Fleeing to the Netherlands, he planned to seek asylum there.
"Under the Dublin Regulations Mehdi can be sent back from the Netherlands. These regulations allow member states to send asylum-seekers back to the country where they originally claimed asylum.
"In the Netherlands he has been given special group status as a young gay man. The UK does not recognise the status of LGBT people with regard to homophobic regimes such as that in Iran. And unless the Home Office reviews his case, Mr Kazemi may face deportation.
"If he is deported the Home Secretary is effectively handing Mehdi a death sentence as he is known to the authorities as the former partner of a man executed for 'sodomy'. Friends of his have described his state of mind as 'very depressed' and immigration authorities have been put on suicide watch while Mr Kazemi is in their care. While one of his friends, Omar Kuddus, had this to say: "[if we] allow this fellow homosexual man to be executed, then we are no better than those who actually perpetrate the crime.""
Phelim continued: "We must plea now with the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to stop Mehdi being deported back to Iran. We urge everyone to contact the Home Secretary at smithjj@parliament.uk and 020 7035 4848 and to sign the online petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/UKMADHI/
"We really have to ask what cruelty drove UK Home Office officials to threaten to deport a man who faced and continues to face torture and extermination at the hands of the Iranian regime for being gay. Mehdi Kazemi deserves above all the right to life and those of us who can now need to support his right.
"Further we have to campaign for the rights of LGBT asylum seekers who go voiceless almost throughout the entirety of the world and campaign against the despicable treatment of LGBT people throughout the world which forces them to seek asylum in the first place.""
Other Greens have commented on the issue too:-
Peter Tatchell (LGBT Campaigner and Green Party candidate for Oxford East at the next general election) cites this as "the latest example of the Government putting the aims of cutting asylum numbers before the merits of individual cases."
Jean Lambert Green MEP for London who has signed an appeal to the European Commission and the Prime Ministers of the UK and the Netherlands [2] regarding this case has today called for a re-evaluation of his case:
"The law is clear that no-one should be returned to a country where their life would be in danger and it seems that Mr Kazemi has a very strong case for asylum. All European countries must prove that their systems will protect people like him and that they can respond effectively to changes in circumstances, as in this case."
Source: --->Green Party click here<---
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08-03-08 13:22
Schriftelijke vragen van het lid Van der Ham (D66) aan de staatssecretaris van Justite over de dreigende uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi
1. Bent u bekend met de internationale belangstelling voor de dreigende uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi uit Nederland naar het Verenigd Koninkrijk en van daaruit mogelijk naar Iran? *)
2. Bent u bekend met de petitie van Europarlementariërs die zowel het Verenigd Koninkrijk als Nederland oproepen om gezamenlijk uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi naar Iran te voorkomen?
3. Bent u het met mij eens dat deze berichtgeving indruist tegen het internationale signaal dat Nederland heeft willen geven met het besluit in 2006 om Iraanse homoseksuelen als groep door het verlenen van asiel een veilige haven te bieden?
4. Deelt u de inschatting dat er een groot risico bestaat dat de individuele toetsing in het Verenigd Koninkrijk zal leiden tot uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi naar Iran? Zo ja, bent u bereid deze risicoafweging mee te wegen in een besluit om Mehdi Kazemi niet uit te zetten naar het Verenigd Koninkrijk en alsnog toestemming te geven tot een asielaanvraag in Nederland?
5. Bent u bereid, gezien het feit dat Nederland voor Iraaanse homoseksuele asielzoekers een uniek groepsbeleid voert dat fundamenteel afwijkt van dat van andere Schengenlanden, Iraanse homoseksuele asielzoekers ook toe te laten voor een asielaanvraag in ons land, ondanks het feit dat Nederland niet het eerste land was waar een aanvraag gedaan is? Zo nee, waarom niet?
5. Mocht op grond van louter formeel-juridische overwegingen uitzetting van Mehdi Kazemi naar het Verenigd Koninkrijk toch plaatsvinden, bent u dan bereid om met uw Britse ambtgenoot te overleggen om het Nederlandse beleid inzake Iraanse homoseksuele asielzoekers toe te lichten en haar te laten weten dat Nederland bereid is Mehdi Kazemi asiel te verlenen indien het Verenigd Koninkrijk mocht besluiten tot zijn uitzetting naar Iran?
dossiernr mininsterie van justitie 2070814250
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