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Betrekkelijk goed nieuws |
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Jet |
04-04-08 23:22
Mehdi, the Gay Iranian Teen Who Faces Deportation, Back in UK d.d. April 4th.
Mehdi K., the 19 years old gay Iranian being detained by the authorities in the Netherlands, was returned to UK earlier today.
He was interviewed at London Heathrow airport by immigration officials, was "released", and will be staying with one of his uncles until his situation is resolved.
No further details are expected until after the weekend.
Source: --->UK Gay News click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 23:54
Iranian gays still facing deportation from UK
14th March 2008 14:25
Lucy Durnin
Gay activists have told PinkNews.co.uk that the government need to reconsider the cases of other gay asylum seekers following the reprieve of Iranian teenager Mehdi Kazemi's.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced yesterday that in the light of "new circumstances" gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi should have his case reconsidered upon his return from the Netherlands, where he fled when his first application was denied.
The 19-year old, who has lived in Britain since 2005, was facing deportation and possible execution in Iran, where homosexuality is illegal.
Although the decision has been met with support, gay activists have warned that there are many similar cases which are being overlooked by the government.
Omar Kuddus, a gay rights activist who campaigned for Kazemi's case, told PinkNews.co.uk:
"The British government has for once done the right thing and given this young man a chance and hope for his future.
"There is no question of the fate awaiting Madhi if he is deported back to Iran - execution, just for being gay.
"Homosexuality is not accepted and the state kills and punishes those guilty of being gay.
"To say that homosexuals are safe as long as they are discreet and live their lives in private, is to say that Anne Frank was safe from the Nazis in World War Two as long as she hid in her attic, there is no difference.
"Homosexuality shall never be acceptable in Iran as long as the Ayatollahs and Sharia law is in place.
"I am grateful that Mehdi can now make his case and establish the true dangers awaiting him in Iran."
The Home Office said last week that even though homosexuality is illegal in Iran and homosexuals do experience discrimination, it does not believe that homosexuals are routinely persecuted purely on the basis of their sexuality.
Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner and member of gay rights group OutRage! believes that there are dozens of other gay asylum seekers whose cases the government are refusing to review.
Mr Tatchell said:
"The review of this case is welcome, but there are still many more which need to be reconsidered, including Pegah Emambakhsh and many other individuals who are fleeing violently homophobic countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, Iraq, Zimbabwe and Palestine.
"The underlying problem is the government's whole asylum system and the way it is rigged to fail as many applicants as possible, combined with the homophobic biases of the asylum process.
"Asylum staff and adjudicators are given no training on sexual orientation and there is no explicit official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation."
The growing public outcry over the issue prompted a response from the European Parliament and 60 MEPs signed a petition asking Gordon Brown to reverse the decision on Kazemi.
Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP welcomed the change of heart by Jacqui Smith, but believes the decision should have been made sooner.
Baroness Ludford said: "This is a welcome move, even if it should have come voluntarily and without the need for so much pressure.
"We must not forget other gay Iranians fearing not only their liberty but their lives, such as Pegah Emambakhsh. They deserve justice too."
Ms Ludford has written to the Home Secretary requesting a review of Pegah Emambakhsh, an Iranian lesbian who faces deportation after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.
Ms Emambakhsh, 40, who fled to Britain in 2005 after her girlfriend was sentenced to the death penalty, narrowly avoided deportation in August last year when her local MP Richard Caborn persuaded the government to allow her to stay while further avenues of appeal were explored.
Last month, however, the Court of Appeal turned down her application for permission for a full hearing and she now plans to apply for a judicial review at the High Court.
Source: --->PinkNews click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 22:59
PRESS RELEASE
14th March 2008
MEHDI KAZEMI IS SAFE. EVERYONE GROUP CELEBRATES WITH ITS ALLIES AND ANNOUNCES NEW HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS
After the historical approval of the European Resolution on the case of Seyed Mehdi Kazemi (see below) the British Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, decided a few hours ago to suspend the procedure that would entail deportation to Iran for Mehdi Kazemi, the young Iranian gay, member of EveryOne Group (www.everyonegroup.com).
What happened today is the result of the international intervention which saw EveryOne Group with the Nonviolent Radical Party and the associations Nessuno Tocchi Caino and Certi Diritti on the front line.
"When we took on the task of trying to save Mehdi", say the leaders of EveryOne Group, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, enthusiastically, "the young Iranian boy faced deportation and death on the scaffold in Iran. Then we and our allies found ourselves flanked by a network of solidarity which prevented yet another crime against human rights. It is the first step towards a society that is no longer indifferent, a society that is capable of respecting the rights of refugees who are the weakest link in humanity.
We have to express our deepest satisfaction at this important victory on the field of human rights, which has resulted in the saving of a human life and written an important page in European history: from now on the highest authorities will guarantee that in all the Member States Directive 2004/83/CE is applied, which calls for the recognition of refugee status also for people persecuted in their country of origin because of their sexual orientation.
"It is a triumph for human civilization", conclude the leaders of EveryOne, "a prelude for our next campaigns, the aims of which are to safeguard refugees and other persecuted minorities.
While we celebrate the saving of a life, however, we must continue to fight so that nations travel along the road of human rights and abandon persecutions and injustices which are the legacy of ages we have to leave behind us."
MEHDI, IRANIAN GAY: AFTER THE CAMPAIGN BEGUN BY EVERYONE GROUP AND RADICALS, EXTRAORDINARY INTERVENTION BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
URGENT EUROPEAN RESOLUTION APPROVED
FOR MEHDI KAZEMI
News has just come in from Bruxelles that the European Parliament has approved with 60 votes (46 in favour, 2 against and 12 abstentions) an urgent resolution on the case of Seyed Mehdi Kazemi - the 19-year-old Iranian gay - member of EveryOne Group - who is about to be extradited from Holland to the United Kingdom. He risked immediate deportation from London to Teheran, where the death sentence awaits him because of his homosexuality.
Signed by 142 Euro MPs and 62 Lords of the British House of Lords, the European Parliament resolution on Mehdi Kazemi's case was approved after EveryOne Group (www.everyonegroup.com), (together with the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, and the associations Certi Diritti and Nessuno Tocchi Caino), had requested urgent action from the European Union in an attempt to save the young man's life. In the text, (which in the next few hours will be sent to the European Commission, the European Council, the Member States, the UN High Commission for Refugees and to Mehdi Kazemi himself), they ask Holland and the United Kingdom to "find a common solution to ensure that Mehdi Kazemi is granted asylum or protection on EU soil and not sent back to Iran, where he would be executed, thus ensuring that Article 3 of the ECHR is fully respected by all European authorities and notably, in this case, by the UK;
"Before our intervention, Mehdi had attempted in every way to avoid deportation to the scaffold, but it was only the incredible success of the campaign we set in motion, (together with the collaboration of the Radicals and Euro MPs Marco Cappato and Marco Pannella, the first signatories of the resolution), that has prevented, at least for the present, Mehdi being murdered," commented Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, the leaders of EveryOne Group, which took on the case from the beginning and raised the alarm. "This time," (explain the activists of EveryOne, who were also involved in the campaign to save Pegah Emambakhsh, the Lesbian Iranian refugee - who still risks deportation from London, seeing the Home Office has still not reached a decision on her appeal), "we did not ask people throughout the world to send flowers to Jacqui Smith or to Gordon Brown, because the highest British authorities have shown to have no respect for human life. Sending an innocent 19-year-old boy to die with a rope around his neck, is for them, just a bureaucratic procedure."
The EveryOne Group campaign, which was set in motion after Mehdi's uncle and some of his acquaintances approached the activists for help, was aimed at involving the international press first of all, and in the following stages the most important European institutions and the UN High Commission for Refugees. "Right from the beginning the campaign has achieved unexpected results," say Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau, who have unsettled those responsible for the deportations. In the space of a few days the world's main television channels have answered the appeal - the BBC, ABC, SKY News, CCN, and the London-based RAI, as well as the world's major newspapers, Corriere della Sera, El Paìs, the Independent, Times and Guardian. Thanks to this extraordinary interest from the media, it was not difficult to bring to the attention of the international institutions, (starting with the European Parliament), that a persecution against homosexual refugees and other refugees is underway in the United Kingdom. It will now be difficult for the deportations of Mehdi Kazemi and Pegah Emambakhsh, (who is also mentioned in the European resolution), to take place, even though the United Kingdom's attitude towards refugees should keep us on the alert. It is a situation that requires immediate intervention from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees".
Source: --->EveryOneGroup click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 22:20
Uitstel, maar geen oplossing voor Iraanse homo
door Perro de Jong
14-03-2008
Een bizar verhaal. Mehdi Kazemi, een Iraanse homo, vraagt asiel aan in Groot-Brittannië. De aanvraag wordt afgewezen, en hij vlucht naar Nederland. Dat land stuurt Iraanse homo's in principe niet terug, maar wil de zaak niet behandelen vanwege Europese regels. Kazemi dreigt op het vliegtuig te worden gezet. Maar na protesten belooft de Britse regering de afwijzing alsnog te herzien.
Het besluit van Londen om de zaak op grond van "nieuwe omstandigheden" te heropenen bevrijdt in ieder geval de Nederlandse staatssecretaris van Justitie Albayrak uit een netelige positie. Toen de toenmalige minister van Immigratie Verdonk in 2005 Iraanse homo's wilde uitzetten, was Albayrak daartegen. Maar nu leek ze met Mehdi Kazemi precies hetzelfde te gaan doen.
In het Akkoord van Dublin is vastgelegd dat een asielzoeker maar in één Europees land een aanvraag mag doen. In het geval van Kazemi was dat Groot-Brittannië, waar hij verbleef als student toen hij begin 2006 van familie hoorde dat zijn ex-vriend Parham was opgehangen.
Maar Nederland had de zaak best kunnen overnemen, denkt de Britse Europarlementariër Sarah Ludford die deze week campagne voerde voor Kazemi in het Europees Parlement. "De Dublin-regels verbieden lidstaten niet om zoiets te doen. Ze stellen alleen dat het niet hoeft."
Het werkelijke probleem is volgens Ludford het gapende gat tussen het Akkoord van Dublin en de uitwerking van het Europese vluchtelingenbeleid. "We hebben nu wel uitgebreide regels om mensen van de ene lidstaat naar de andere te sturen, maar die zijn alleen nodig omdat er verder geen duidelijk, geharmoniseerd asielbeleid is."
Individueel bewijs
Alle EU-landen worden geacht mensen te beschermen die vervolgd worden op grond van ras, geloof of seksualiteit. Maar welk bewijs ze voor die vervolging nodig hebben, bepalen de landen grotendeels zelf. In Nederland is het genoeg om aan te tonen dat je tot een groep behoort die wordt onderdrukt. Welke groepen dat zijn wordt bepaald op grond van een lijst van het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. In Groot-Brittannië daarentegen moet er individueel bewijs zijn van vervolging.
"Ik had nooit problemen in Iran", gaf Kazemi toe in zijn brief aan de Britse autoriteiten. Maar zijn ex-partner Parham zou kort voor zijn executie Kazemi's naam hebben genoemd. "Als ik terugga dan word ik gearresteerd en ter dood veroordeeld." Londen concludeerde echter dat niet onafhankelijk kon worden vastgesteld of Parham inderdaad vanwege zijn homoseksualiteit ter dood was gebracht.
Doodstraf
Officieel staat op 'lavat' - homoseksuele praktijken - in Iran de doodstraf. Maar volgens de officiële richtlijnen van het Britse ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken aangaande Iran is er een tegenstelling tussen theorie en praktijk, en worden de meeste homo's niet gestraft, laat staan geëxecuteerd. Omdat er verder geen concreet bewijs was van vervolging wees Groot-Brittannië de asielaanvraag af.
Ook Nederland was dat probleem al eens tegengekomen. Toen minister Verdonk in 2005 de uitzetting van Iraanse homo's wilde hervatten, was dat op grond van soortgelijke conclusies over het verschil tussen theorie en praktijk. Kort daarvoor waren weliswaar twee homoseksuele tieners opgehangen in de stad Mashhad. Maar later bleek dat de twee ook schuldig waren bevonden aan verkrachting van een minderjarige.
Toch is Nederland uiteindelijk doorgegaan met het geven van verblijfsvergunningen aan Iraanse homo's. Minister Verdonk verwees daarvoor naar een rapport van Human Rights Watch. Volgens dat rapport was er wel degelijk sprake van systematische vervolging.
Nieuwe omstandigheden
"Ik vind dat er veel mis is met de Britse richtlijnen", zegt Sarah Ludford. "De informatie die het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken gebruikt, legt lang niet genoeg nadruk op de ernstige onderdrukking van homo's in Iran. Ze moeten daar toch eens opnieuw naar kijken." De vraag is nu of Groot-Brittannië dat ook daadwerkelijk zal doen, of dat het alleen zal constateren dat er in dit specifieke geval toch reden is om asiel te verlenen.
Met "nieuwe omstandigheden" zou minister Jacqui Smith bijvoorbeeld kunnen bedoelen dat het door al de recente media-aandacht inderdaad gevaarlijk is geworden voor Kazemi. Dat zou "pervers" zijn, vindt Ludford. "Kazemi is niet de enige Iraanse homo die gevaar loopt zijn vrijheid of zelfs zijn leven erbij in te schieten als hij wordt teruggestuurd. En nu bestaat er het risico dat de minister straks zegt: 'Hierover is zoveel publiciteit geweest dat hij onder geen beding veilig meer zou zijn, maar de anderen kunnen we wel rustig terugsturen'."
Mehdi Kazemi is dan misschien gered - al bestaat theoretisch nog steeds de kans dat hij straks een enkeltje Teheran krijgt - maar een echte oplossing is toch iets heel anders.
Source --->Wereldomroep click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 22:02
Gay Iranian granted asylum reprieve
Thu Mar 13, 2008
By Luke Baker
LONDON (Reuters) - A gay Iranian teenager was granted a reprieve on Thursday from deportation to Iran, where he says he could be hanged for his homosexuality.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a statement that "in the light of new circumstances" 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi's appeal for asylum should be reconsidered.
"This is very positive. But reconsidered doesn't mean he'll get a permit, they could still deny what he is asking," Kazemi's Dutch lawyer, Borg Palm, told Reuters by telephone.
Kazemi came to Britain to study in 2005, lawyers have said. He later learned that his lover in Iran had been hanged after being charged and convicted of sodomy. Homosexuality is illegal in the Islamic republic.
Fearing for his life, Kazemi sought asylum in Britain, but his claim was rejected.
Members of the Lords urged Smith earlier on Thursday to show mercy and grant Kazemi asylum in Britain, where his uncle has lived for 30 years.
"We are deeply concerned at the possible execution of Mehdi Kazemi if he is refused asylum in the UK and is deported to Iran," read a letter to Smith signed by 63 members of the Lords.
Kazemi fled to the Netherlands and sought asylum there, but a Dutch court this week turned down his application, saying as he had applied in Britain he must return there to pursue his case.
He is due to be deported from the Netherlands back to Britain within days, the Independent said on Thursday.
Human rights groups and gay rights advocates have rallied to Kazemi's cause, highlighting the Iranian government's track record of executing homosexuals.
"If returned to Tehran, he will be at risk of imprisonment, torture and execution," said Peter Tatchell, the founder of Outrage, a gay rights group.
(Additional reporting by Katherine Baldwin and David Clarke in London and Svebor Kranjc and Catherine Hornby in Amsterdam; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Source: --->Reuters click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 18:05
Gay Iranian given hope by the UK's U-turn
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain says it will reconsider the asylum application of a gay Iranian teenager who claims he will be persecuted if he is returned home.
Mehdi Kazemi believes he will face persecution if he is made to return to Iran.
Friday's announcement came after the European Parliament urged a resolution to the case and said that Iran routinely detained, tortured and executed homosexuals.
The case of 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi has been in limbo after Britain initially rejected his asylum request.
He fled to the Netherlands and sought asylum there -- but the government turned him down, saying the case should be dealt with in Britain, where he first applied.
"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," British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a statement. See the latest twist in the teenager's case. »
Kazemi was studying in Britain in 2006 when he learned that his partner in Iran had been arrested, charged with sodomy, and hanged, according to Kazemi's uncle -- who spoke to CNN on condition that his name not be revealed because of safety concerns.
"Under torture and pressure, (the partner) revealed Mehdi's name as his boyfriend," the uncle said.
In Kazemi's application for asylum in Britain, he wrote that Iranian police were now after him, and he feared execution if he returned home.
Kazemi's father disowned him when he learned his son was gay, the uncle said.
Britain's Home Office initially rejected Kazemi's asylum application, saying that although homosexuality was illegal in Iran and gays did experience discrimination there, Britain did not believe that homosexuals were routinely persecuted purely because of their sexuality.
Kazemi then fled for Canada but ended up in the Netherlands, where he was detained.
He made three successive appeals for asylum in the Netherlands before the Council of State -- the highest Dutch court -- announced Tuesday that it rejected his plea.
The decision complied with a European Union agreement that an asylum application submitted in any EU country would be handled by that country alone, according to council spokeswoman Daniela Tempelman.
She said the regulation sought to ensure that an asylum seeker was not redirected from nation to nation simply because none would take responsibility for the case. Watch how teenager has lost his right to remain. »
In order for the Dutch court to consider Kazemi's asylum application, he needed to prove that Britain did not handle his asylum application properly, but he wasn't able to, Tempelman said.
His chances for appeal in the Netherlands now exhausted, Kazemi faces deportation to Britain.
The European Parliament passed a resolution Thursday demanding that a solution be found to Kazemi's case.
The resolution pointed out that the Iranian authorities "routinely detain, torture and execute persons, notably homosexuals" and that "Mehdi's partner has already been executed, while his father has threatened him with death."
Source: --->CNN click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 16:55
Groot-Brittannië bekijkt zaak Iraanse homo opnieuw
AP
gepubliceerd op 14 maart 2008 11:08, bijgewerkt op 11:08
LONDEN - De Britse regering gaat het geval van een Iraanse homoseksueel wiens asielverzoek is afgewezen opnieuw bekijken. Dat heeft minister van Binnenlandse Zaken Jacqui Smith donderdag gezegd. Dinsdag kreeg de Iraniër, de 19-jarige Mehdi Kazemi, te horen dat hij ook in Nederland geen asiel krijgt, omdat hij eerder in Groot-Brittannië al om asiel vroeg.
Smith sprak van nieuwe omstandigheden, die een herziening van het verzoek van de Iraniër rechtvaardigen.
Kazemi vertrok in 2005 naar Groot-Brittannië om Engels te studeren en vroeg daar naar eigen zeggen asiel aan na te hebben gehoord dat zijn vriend in Iran was geëxecuteerd wegens sodomie.
Nadat zijn asielverzoek was afgewezen, ging hij naar Nederland in de hoop daar wel als vluchteling te worden erkend.
Anders dan Groot-Brittannië stuurt Nederland geen Iraanse homo's terug naar hun land, maar de regels van de Europese Unie bepalen dat een asielzoeker wiens asielverzoek in een land is afgewezen, het niet in een ander land opnieuw mag proberen.
Source: --->De Volkskrant click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 16:40
Nieuw onderzoek naar zaak Iraanse homo
14-03-2008 | Door: DAG
De Britse regering gaat opnieuw kijken naar het asiekverzoek van een homoseksuele Iraniër.
De Britse regering gaat het geval van een Iraanse homoseksueel wiens asielverzoek is afgewezen opnieuw bekijken. Dat heeft minister van binnenlandse zaken Jacqui Smith donderdag gezegd. Dinsdag kreeg de Iraniër, de 19-jarige Mehdi Kazemi, te horen dat hij ook in Nederland geen asiel krijgt, omdat hij eerder in Groot-Brittannië al om asiel vroeg.
Smith sprak van nieuwe omstandigheden, die een herziening van het verzoek van de Iraniër rechtvaardigen.
Kazemi vertrok in 2005 naar Groot-Brittannië om Engels te studeren en vroeg daar naar eigen zeggen asiel aan na te hebben gehoord dat zijn vriend in Iran was geëxecuteerd wegens sodomie. Nadat zijn asielverzoek was afgewezen ging hij naar Nederland in de hoop daar wel als vluchteling te worden erkend. Anders dan Groot-Brittannië stuurt Nederland geen Iraanse homo's terug naar hun land, maar de regels van de Europese Unie bepalen dat een asielzoeker wiens asielverzoek in een land is afgewezen, het niet in een ander land opnieuw mag proberen.
Source: --->Dag click here<---
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Jet |
14-03-08 15:10
Gay Iranian teenager has deportation reprieve
Mehdi Kazemi, who was facing deportation to Iran, was granted a temporary reprieve today
Fran Yeoman March 13
Mehdi Kazemi, the gay Iranian teenager facing deportation from Britain and execution in his home country, has been handed a temporary reprieve.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, announced today that his case will be reconsidered after concerns that he could be hanged if removed to his homeland.
Ms Smith said: “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.”
Mr Kazemi, 19, was this week refused asylum in the Netherlands. His Dutch lawyer, Borg Palm, said the court had ruled he could only claim asylum in the UK.
But his asylum application was rejected by Britain last year, and he was facing deportation from the UK to Iran, where his boyfriend was hanged two years ago for sodomy.
Since the Dutch ruling, the Home Office has been under increasing pressure to review the teenager's case, rather than risk sending him to his death.
The department’s own guidance concedes that Iran executes homosexuals but rejects the claim that there is a systematic repression of gay men and lesbians.
The Times uncovered Foreign and Commonwealth Office papers in November that showed that the British Government regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings.
Mr Kazemi came to London to study English in 2005. He applied for asylum after discovering that his former boyfriend had been hanged in Iran after being charged with sodomy. Legal papers claim that his boyfriend was questioned about his sexual relations with other men and, under interrogation, named Mr Kazemi as his partner.
In a letter to Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, Mr Kazemi wrote: “I did not come to the UK to claim asylum. I came here to study and return to my country. But . . . my situation has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me. I cannot stop my attraction towards men . . . I was born with the feeling and cannot change this fact . . . If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed.”
According to human rights campaigners more than 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed in Iran since the revolution in 1979.
Ben Summerskill, Chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall, said today: “We are obviously delighted that the Home Secretary has listened to the representations that were made in this case.
“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.”
Source: --->Timesonline click here<---
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14-03-08 14:56
Victory for Kazemi as Home Secretary halts deportation to Iran
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Friday, 14 March 2008
A gay teenager who faces the death penalty if he is forced to return to Iran has won a temporary reprieve after the Home Secretary halted his planned deportation and agreed to reconsider his case.
The Government's surprise intervention yesterday follows an international outcry over the plight of Mehdi Kazemi, 19, who lost his asylum claim in Britain even though his former boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian state police and executed for sodomy.
Mr Kazemi later fled to the Netherlands from Britain, but this week lost his final legal battle to force the Dutch government to allow him to seek refugee status there. He is being held in a Rotterdam immigration detention centre, awaiting transfer to Britain in the next few days.
Announcing the decision to rehear Mr Kazemi's case, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said yesterday: "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."
The political breakthrough was welcomed by his family and supporters, who said they now hoped Ms Smith would grant him permanent asylum in Britain.
Emma Ginn, of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, who met Mr Kazemi when he was detained in Britain in 2006, said: "This is, finally, a good decision. There are many flaws in the UK's so-called 'fair and efficient' asylum determination process that others, not so fortunate to attract such global news coverage, are subjected to. The whole thing seems like not much more than a lottery."
Mr Kazemi's MP, Simon Hughes, said last night: "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."
The chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, said: We are obviously delighted that the Home Secretary has listened to the representations that were made in this case. 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 Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman, the MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, said: "This is a welcome move, even if it should have come voluntarily and without the need for so much pressure. But we must not forget other gay Iranians fearing for not only their liberty but their lives, such as Pegah Emambakhsh [an Iranian lesbian who is seeking asylum in Britain]. They deserve justice, too."
Mr Kazemi came to London to study in 2005, but in April 2006 discovered that his gay partner had been arrested by the Iranian authorities and named him as his boyfriend before his execution.
Fearing he might suffer the same fate if he returned home after his studies, Mr Kazemi decided to seek asylum in Britain.
In an open letter to the British Government, Mr Kazemi told the Home Secretary: "I wish to inform the Secretary of State that I did not come to the UK to claim asylum. I came here to study and return to my country. But in the past few months my situation back home has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me."
He added: "I cannot stop my attraction towards men. This is something that I will have to live with the rest of my life. I was born with the feeling and cannot change this fact but it is unfortunate that I cannot express my feeling in Iran. If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed like my former boyfriend."
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/victory-for-kazemi-as-home- secretary-halts-deportation-to-iran-795713.html
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Jet |
14-03-08 01:17
Voor alle goedwillende mensen,
lees please ook de topics buiten de petitie even na. Ben nu te moe, maar als we nog meer effect willen bereiken moeten we eerst nadenken.
Het eerste doel is bereikt, maar we zijn er nog niet!
Knuf Jet
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