clipped from: shakespearessister.blogspot.com   

No Asylum For Gay Iranian Teen

| posted by Petulant | Tuesday, March 11, 2008



I had mentioned in the morning readings about Mehdi Kazemi whose boyfriend was executed by the Iranian government. The Netherlands denied his asylum plea.
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, had originally sought asylum in Britain, where he was taking classes on a student visa, because, he said, his boyfriend had been executed in Iran after saying he and Kazemi had been in a gay relationship. Britain's Home Office rejected his request, prompting Kazemi to flee to Netherlands.
Tuesday's decision by the Council of State -- the highest administrative court in the Netherlands --means Kazemi could face deportation to Britain, which he fears will send him back to Iran.
In a written statement, Britain's Home Office said 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.