Home Office’s Anti-Gay Asylum Seeker Policy Shot Down

In a serious indictment of the horrific authoritarianism of New Labour’s Home Office, the UK Supreme Court has shot down its policy of refusing asylum to gay refugees from countries such as Iran because they could avoid persecution by being ‘discreet’:

Two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries have the right to asylum in the UK, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The panel of judges said it had agreed “unanimously” to allow the appeals from the men, from Cameroon and Iran.

They had earlier been refused asylum on the grounds they could hide their sexuality by behaving discreetly.

It was an inhuman policy, which no doubt Alan Johnson will go back on the TV politics shows to defend. And the counter-argument of course is that anyone could pretend they’re gay in order to claim asylum, but of course it’s the job of the UK Border Agency to determine the legitimacy of all asylum claims. Brendan Keenan is right when he says:

Equally important is that while one paragraph makes reference to stereotypes of gay men enjoying Kylie Minogue and “exotically coloured cocktails” (paragraph 78), it does so only to make the broader point that sexuality is a living thing, expressed in infinitely different and individual ways, and that as a result each individual’s case must be treated with the respect and attention it deserves, rather than looking solely at some prescribed categories of behaviour or preconceptions.

And Lord Hope got it equally right however in the ruling, when he said:

“To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is.

“Homosexuals are as much entitled to freedom of association with others who are of the same sexual orientation as people who are straight.”

The court said it would be passing detailed guidance to the lower courts about how to treat such cases in the future.

We live in a bizarre political landscape when Theresa May thanks the Supreme Court for justifying her Tory Home Office’s liberal position on this.

Three gay teenagers are on death row in Iran: please help to try and save them

Iran is preparing once again to execute young gay men arrested while they were a minor.

Guilty of ‘lavat’ (i.e. sexual conduct between two men, regardless of penetration), the three teenagers do not yet have dates set for their state-sponsored murders, but according to Human Rights Watch and Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees it could happen any day with no warning.

They are Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil and who has been detained for over three years.

Under Iranian law lavat is “punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will” — something that not only conflicts with the boys’ age at the time of the alleged ‘offenses’, but also a gross violation of international law, which forbids, under any circumstance, the executive of juvenile offenders.

In 2008, the Deputy Attorney General of Iran announced that Iranian judicial authorities would ban the juvenile death penalty for non-murder-related offenses, effective immediately, pending parliamentary approval. Iran has signed two international treaties on the protection of children.

Nemat Safavi is part of the list maintained by Amnesty International of minors tried and awaiting execution in Iran. The European Parliament, the UN, and the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi have all urged Iran to end juvenile executions.

Read more about the cases in the Human Rights Watch report.

What can I do

This blog (in Spanish) is devoted to the cases http://nematsafavi.blogspot.com/ and has suggestions on what can be done, primarily:

• alerting the media (there has been virtually no media coverage)
• contacting Iranian embassies (it has links)

It also has an avatar (‘I ♥ Nemat’) for use in social media.

Spanish, French and Italian gay sites as well as some progressives in those countries and a few elsewhere have been reporting their cases.

IRQR are asking for donations which they say will help with the legal case in Iran. They are also calling for “all human rights organizations to take up this urgent cause. We ask that people write, fax, call, or email to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and any LGBT and/or international organizations to support Nemat and vigorously oppose his execution and the laws against homosexuals.”

There is a Facebook group: Save Nemat Safavi

Youtube video about Nemat (in Spanish)

If there is any action you can take please do. As far as we are aware, these gay kids haven’t been hung yet.

Iran prepares to execute a young man accused of sodomy

Source: Tetu

By Blaise Gauquelin

(Google translation)

Nemat Safavi was 16 when Iranian police arrested him. Convicted of sodomy, was sentenced to death and still awaiting his execution.

Reportedly, Iran is preparing once again to execute a young man arrested while he was a minor. Nemat Safavi, who was convicted of having practiced “sex acts that are not admitted, was sentenced by the court of Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan, the death penalty. Detained for over three years, he now expects that the supreme court approves the sentence and no information is given by the justice of his fate.

Iran has signed two international treaties on the protection of children. The country has pledged not to execute any citizen minor when the facts repprochés. Nemat Safavi is part of the list maintained by Amnesty minors tried and awaiting execution in Iran. The European Parliament, the UN, the Nobel Peace Shirin Ebadi urged Iran to end juvenile executions in vain.

Two other young men disappeared

Furthermore, in February 2008, two young men, ages 18 and 19, were arrested under the same conditions and in the same region. Identified as the Loghman Hamzeh-for and Hamze Tchave initially, these two Iranians have since given most of their new friends.

L’Iran s’apprête à exécuter un jeune homme accusé de sodomie

Par Blaise Gauquelin

Nemat Safavi avait 16 ans lorsque la police iranienne l’a arrêté. Reconnu coupable d’acte de sodomie, il a été condamné à mort et attend toujours son exécution.

Selon nos informations, l’Iran s’apprête une nouvelle fois à exécuter un jeune homme arrêté alors qu’il était mineur. Nemat Safavi, reconnu coupable d’avoir pratiqué «des actes sexuels qui ne sont pas admis», a été condamné par le tribunal d’Ardabil, en Azerbaidjan iranien, à la peine de mort. Détenu depuis plus de trois ans, il attend désormais que la cour suprême valide la sentence et aucune information n’est donnée par la justice sur son sort.

L’Iran a signé deux traités internationaux portant sur la protection de l’enfance. Le pays s’est engagé à ne plus exécuter aucun citoyen mineur au moment des faits repprochés. Nemat Safavi fait partie de la liste tenue à jour par Amnesty des mineurs jugés et en attente d’exécution en Iran. Le Parlement européen, l’Onu, la prix Nobel de la Paix Chirine Ebadi ont demandé à l’Iran de mettre fin aux exécutions de mineurs, en vain.

Deux autres jeunes hommes disparus
Par ailleurs, en février 2008, deux jeunes hommes, âgés de 18 et 19 ans, ont été arrêtés dans les mêmes conditions et dans la même région. Identifiés sous le nom de Loghman Hamzeh-pour et de Hamze Tchavi dans un premier temps, ces deux Iraniens n’ont, depuis, plus donné de nouvelles à leurs amis.

• Facebook group: Save Nemat Safavi
• Apoyo a Nemat Safavi

Statement by Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees

Nemat Safavi, 21 years old, has been sentenced to death by the juvenile court in Ardebil, a city northwest Iran.

Queers in Iran are put to death and persecution by their government, simply for being who they are.

Now more than ever we need your help.

According to the Human Rights Activist Group in Iran, Nemat was detained by Iranian authorities when he was 16 years old because of his homosexual acts (Lavat).  He was sentenced to death after being tried in the court of Ardebil.  Mr. Safavi spent time since his arrest in a ‘rectification and education’ centre, and is now being kept in the division of youths in an Ardebil prison.

A final determination of Nemat’s fate will be made by Iran’s Supreme Court.  However, these sentences frequently stand as decided.

Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees calls on all human rights organizations to take up this urgent cause. We ask that people write, fax, call, or email to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and any LGBT and/or international organizations to support Nemat and vigorously oppose his execution and the laws against homosexuals.

Your donation to IRQR helps us pursue every legal avenue to save the lives of people like Nemat Safavi.  The fight is far from over.

Please, donate now: http://irqr.net/donation.htm