9 Comments »

1. Mehdi Kazemi came to this country to study. While he was here, his boyfriend in Iran was arrested and interrogated before being hanged; under interrogation he named Mehdi as someone with whom he had had a sexual relationship.

   Therefore if Mehdi is returned by this govenment to Iran he is at grave risk of imprisonment, torture and ultimately of exection by hanging. In his changed circumstances, even the current Home Office guidelines which claim Iranian gays and lesbians not to be at risk in Iran if they are ‘discreet’ - in itself a dishonest and shameful formulation - do not apply. If he is deported, and the fate descibed above befalls him, the sole responsibility for his liberty and life rest at the hands of the British government. This would be a terrible inditement of the loss of any sense of morality in an avowedly progressive and humane administration.

   Comment by Gavin Maughfling — 7 Mar 2008 on 2:33 pm | Link

2. Sunday, March 9th, 2008

   GAY IRANIAN REFUGEE, EVERYONE GROUP: “UNITED KINGDOM IS A DANGER FOR ALL REFUGEES”

   REPORT WILL BE PRESENTED IN EUROPE

   THE UK HOME OFFICE: “GAY PEOPLE CAN RETURN TO IRAN, IF THEY ARE ‘DISCREET’”

   In an article published on Friday March 7th 2008, in the The Independent, Simon Hughes, leader of the Liberal Democrats and the party’s Shadow Leader in the House of Commons, stated: “The Home Office claims that a gay person can return to Iran and avoid persecution by being “discreet”. All advice suggests that in Iran, to be discreet means that you would have to deny your identity. The punishment for giving in to personal feelings might well be nothing less than torture or death”.
   The same theory had was pointed out by the members of the NNRF (Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum) years ago: “The Home Office claims that if a gay person is less obvious about being gay or lesbian they won’t attract the attention of their persecutors,” writes Richard McCance on the refugees’ association’s website.
   The EveryOne Group, that, since its launch, has promoted, along with the Non-Violent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, and the Nessuno Tocchi Caino and Certi Diritti associations, a campaign in support of its member Seyed Mehdi Kazemi, is going to present a written deposition to the European Union objecting to the UK Home Office’s behaviour towards refugees claiming asylum.
   “Mehdi absolutely has to stay in the Netherlands. It has been shown that the United Kingdom operates an out-and-out persecutory policy towards refugees, especially homosexuals” affirm the EveryOne Group’s leaders Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau. “The Home Office’s statements are serious, and contrary to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is to be hoped that European Authorities urgently intervene in this situation”.
   “In 2004, a 29-year-old Zimbabwean, Thando Dube, was at death’s door, following a 33-day hunger strike in a UK detention camp. Her crime? Thando was a lesbian who fled to Britain to escape the well-known persecution of LGBT people in Zimbabwe. “Her asylum claim was refused,” it’s written in the EveryOne Group’s report. “In September 2003, Israfil Shiri, a gay Iranian asylum seeker, died after pouring petrol over himself and setting himself on fire in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester, after his asylum claim was refused (in the lower and appeal court) and his deportation to Iran, where he would-have-been hanged, had been arranged. In April 2005, 26-year-old Hussein Nasseri shot himself two weeks after his asylum claim was turned down by the Home Office, refusing in this way to let himself be killed by Iranian executioners”.
   However, according to the EveryOne Group not only homosexuals suffered from the British Government’s indifference: Burhan Namig, born in 1980, was deported on September 5th 2006 from the United Kingdom - where his asylum claim had been refused because “not at sea” - to Kurdistan, despite falling into a deep depression and attempting suicide. On arrival in Kurdistan, Burhan had a heart attack, as a result of the inhuman treatment received in a British detention centre. In February 2007, at least two Iraqi Kurds were deported in secret from United Kingdom to the North of Iraq on a military plane carrying medicines and other humanitarian supplies, this despite the ongoing violence in Iraq, after American military actions, and despite the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq being subject to continuous terrorist attacks and serious human rights abuses. “We take a robust approach to people who are here illegally” a Home Office spokesperson told IRR (Independent Race and Refugee News Network) last year.
   The latest case is that of Ama Sumani, a 39-year-old Ghanaian woman, studying in the UK, who was diagnosed with a malignant tumour that couldn’t be treated in Ghanaian hospitals. Her asylum claim was refused by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and the woman was removed, against her will, on January 9th 2008, from University Hospital, Cardiff, in a wheelchair, and repatriated. According to the Home Office, this was all carried out with “politeness and dignity”.
   “All this demonstrates how the United Kingdom’s and its Home Office’s behaviour represent a danger for all refugees, all the more so for those such as Mehdi Kazemi or the Iranian lesbian Pegah Emambakshs, who face capital punishment because of their homosexuality” conclude Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau. “We ask the Dutch Authorities to immediately grant Mehdi refugee status, to avoid another life being destroyed because of the demonstrable and incontrovertible attitude of the UK to violating refugees’ rights. Finally, we ask the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to look out for the rights of refugees currently in the United Kingdom, who come from nations where they risk persecution, in order to prevent any abuse, violation and/or unjust deportation”.

   For further information:
   Gruppo EveryOne
   Tel: (+ 39) 334-8429527
   www.everyonegroup.com :: info@everyonegroup.com

   Comment by EveryOne Group — 9 Mar 2008 on 4:51 pm | Link

3. Mehdi Kazemi must not be sent back to Iran. I am certain that if he is he will be dead within a month. I know this from personal experience of Iranian attitudes to homosexuality.

   My son is Iranian and he’s gay. He is lucky, I am English, so he has the right to live in the UK.

   He was 17 when he told me he was gay. He wanted to tell his father, (my Iranian ex-husband) but his father seemed to have guessed already and started making threats on our son’s life.

   Reasoning with my ex-husband was impossible, despite the fact that our daughter had died two years ago in a car accident, and our son was now our only child. I had hoped that the pain of losing our daughter might make him determined to overcome his intolerance of our son’s sexuality, but it didn’t.

   My ex husband is a man who was educated in England and married to an English woman. He has experienced a life which is not Islamic fundamentalist.

   If he can feel like this about his own son, even though he is not a fanatic of any kind, what chance do gay men and women stand when confronted with a government refuses to accept their existence in its own country - and then executes them?

   My son will never go to Iran - how can he go to a country where it is a crime, punishable by death, to be gay?

   How can anyone stand by and let Mehdi’s life be the payment made in order to show that we will not allow people to “abuse” our immigration laws.

   Diana Armstrong

   Comment by Diana Armstrong — 11 Mar 2008 on 11:41 am | Link

4. Demo opposite Downing Street, 2pm, Saturday March 22nd

   - Don’t deport Mehdi Kazemi!
   - No to Iran’s homophobic laws!
   - For the right to settle in the UK

   Comment by David Broder — 12 Mar 2008 on 12:48 pm | Link

5. dear Diana Amstrong,

   im a gay journalist who dedicate to protect gays rights all around the world. Your case takes your attention.i am so happy to hear that you have taken your son under your arms. im so willing to talk to you if its possible. i am making a rtadio deocumatary about the gay rights in the world. please keep it mind that Your privacy is my main concern. if you read this message please, please contact me my email is alfonzoy@hotmail.com and my number is 0794 228 28 53

   kind regards,

   ALPER YILMAZ

   Comment by alper yilmaz — 12 Mar 2008 on 1:52 pm | Link

6. We are still haunted by the images of two Iranian children being hanged for their sexuality. What will it take to open the politician’s eyes and transport them from rhetoric to action? I left the UK almost twenty years ago to live in The Netherlands. This week I am preparing to be deeply ashamed of both by nationality and my country of residence.

   Nicolas Mansfield Timans

   Comment by Nicolas Mansfield Timans — 12 Mar 2008 on 9:50 pm | Link

7. I am deeply saddened and outraged that there would be any question about returning this young man into the arms of murderers. We are horrified at the violence that occurs in the name of God when it happens on our streets and in our respective countries. Yet, the fact that the courts in a civilized society would beg the point on this issue shows a profound malignancy at the core of both the legal system. I pray that sanity will be restored and that this will be a turning point. I feel that Iran and those responsible will be brought to justice for the lives it has already taken in the name of God.

   Comment by Stephen Forte — 13 Mar 2008 on 6:40 pm | Link

8. I have met Mehdi today in Rotterdam. He is such a sweet boy, so scared. If Britain will continue to think it is save for Gay people to return to Iran, it will not be the country I always assumed it was. If only Mehdi would have come to The Netherlands right away…
   But there is hope, today a resolution was accepted by the European Parliament.

   1. Expresses its serious concern regarding the fate of Mehdi Kazemi;

   2. Asks for the proper and full application of the Qualifications Directive, which recognises persecution for sexual orientation as a ground for granting asylum and requires Member States to consider the individual case and the situation in the country of origin, including laws and regulations and the manner in which they are applied;

   3. Believes that the EU and its Member States cannot apply European and national laws and procedures in a way which results in the expulsion of persons to a third country where they would risk persecution, torture and death, as this would amount to a violation of European and international human rights obligations;

   4. Appeals to the Member states involved 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; asks the Commission and the Council to fully cooperate with the Member States on this case;

   5. Asks EU institutions and Member States to take action to prevent similar situations, in the future, through cooperation and EU guidelines to find solutions in similar cases; asks the Commission to monitor and evaluate the application of EU asylum law in Member States, and in particular as regards sexual orientation, and to report to the European Parliament; underlines the fact that the Commission has announced, for 2008, amendments to the Dublin Regulation and the Qualifications Directive which will address the issues raised in this resolution;

   6. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Member States, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Mehdi Kazemi.

   And I understand Britain is willing to look at Mehdi’s case again, I hope Mehdi will get to stay in The Netherlands till his safety will be guaranteed.

   Comment by Cindy Schneider — 13 Mar 2008 on 7:37 pm | Link

9. 14th March 2008

   MEHDI KAZEMI IS FACE.
   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”.

   For further information:
   EveryOne Group
   Tel: (+ 39) 334-8429527
   www.everyonegroup.com :: info@everyonegroup.com

   This is the full text of the European Parliament’s Resolution on Mehdi Kazemi’s case:

   The European Parliament,

   – having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and in particular to Article 3 thereof, which prohibits the removal, expulsion or extradition of persons to countries where there is a serious risk that they would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,

   – having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and in particular to Articles 18 and 19 thereof on the right to asylum and on protection in the event of removal, expulsion or extradition respectively,

   – having regard to the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 and the Protocol of 31 January 1967 relating to the Status of Refugees,

   – having regard to Council Directive 2004/83/EC on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted (Qualifications Directive) and to Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 on the criteria and mechanisms to determine the Member State responsible for assessing asylum applications (Dublin Regulation), as well as to other EU asylum instruments,

   – having regard to the letter of 10 September 2007 from its President to the UK Prime Minister on the case of Pegah Emambakhsh, an Iranian lesbian who risked being sent back to Iran after her request for asylum was turned down,

   – having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

   A. whereas Mehdi Kazemi, a 19-year-old gay Iranian citizen, requested asylum in the United Kingdom and had his application turned down; whereas, fearing deportation, he fled to the Netherlands, where he applied for asylum; whereas Dutch authorities, after examining his request, have decided to send him back to the UK,

   B. whereas UK authorities are now left with the final decision on his asylum application and possible deportation to Iran,

   C. whereas Iranian authorities routinely detain, torture and execute persons, notably homosexuals; whereas Mehdi’s partner has already been executed, while his father has threatened him with death,

   D. whereas in the similar case of Pegah Emambakhsh the UK authorities decided, after international pressure, not to deport her back to Iran, but whereas it is still not clear what her fate will be,

   E. whereas the UK Prime Minister’s spokesperson, while not commenting on the case of Mehdi Kazemi, gave general assurances as to the conformity of UK asylum procedures with international commitments and to the possibility of appealing against asylum decisions to an independent judge, as well as to the fact that the authorities would not remove anyone who would be at risk on his or her return,

   F. whereas more attention should be devoted to the proper application of EU asylum law in Member States as regards sexual orientation,

   1. Expresses its serious concern regarding the fate of Mehdi Kazemi;

   2. Asks for the proper and full application of the Qualifications Directive, which recognises persecution for sexual orientation as a ground for granting asylum and requires Member States to consider the individual case and the situation in the country of origin, including laws and regulations and the manner in which they are applied;

   3. Believes that the EU and its Member States cannot apply European and national laws and procedures in a way which results in the expulsion of persons to a third country where they would risk persecution, torture and death, as this would amount to a violation of European and international human rights obligations;

   4. Appeals to the Member states involved 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; asks the Commission and the Council to fully cooperate with the Member States on this case;

   5. Asks EU institutions and Member States to take action to prevent similar situations, in the future, through cooperation and EU guidelines to find solutions in similar cases; asks the Commission to monitor and evaluate the application of EU asylum law in Member States, and in particular as regards sexual orientation, and to report to the European Parliament; underlines the fact that the Commission has announced, for 2008, amendments to the Dublin Regulation and the Qualifications Directive which will address the issues raised in this resolution;

   6. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Member States, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Mehdi Kazemi.

   Comment by EveryOne Group — 14 Mar 2008 on 12:42 am | Link

---

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.