Don't Ask, Don't Tell ... Do Die

posted by The Sailor @ 6:04 PM Permalink

Now Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain faces deportation

An Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.

The case of Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, comes a day after The Independent reported on the growing public outcry over the plight of a gay Iranian teenager who fears he will be executed if he is deported to Iran.
[...]
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2004 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.

In a phone conversation with his father in Tehran, Mr Kazemi was told that, before the execution in April 2006, his boyfriend had been questioned about sexual relations he had with other men and under interrogation had named Mr Kazemi. Fearing for his own life if he returned to Iran, Mr Kazemi claimed asylum in Britain.
[...]
In turning down Ms Emambakhsh and Mr Kazemi's asylum applications, the Home Office has said that, provided Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted.

What wonderful allies we have. Even if what the Home Office said was true, that hiding your sexuality will allow you to escape a death penalty, they're completely ignoring the fact that the Iranian government already knows Kazemi and Emambakhsh are gay.

If Britain deports them, Britain is just as guilty as Iran in their deaths.



Cross posted at SteveAudio

Labels: bad Religion, gay rights, human rights