IRAN/NETHERLANDS/UNITED KINGDOM
Gay Iranian Teen Loses Appeal in Netherlands Court – To Be Returned to UK
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Cashman Takes Plight of Mehdi to the European Parliament |
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STRASBOURG, March 11, 2008 – Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-years-old gay Iranian has lost his fight to remain in the Netherlands, a Dutch judge ruled this afternoon. His uncle, Saeed, was told the news by Mehdi’s lawyer, Borg Palm, on the telephone. The court agreed that the IND, the Netherlands equivalent of the UK’s Border and Immigration Agency, can return him to the UK. No date has been set for the return – at least 48 hours notice has to be given to Mehdi, with date and time of deportation. Saeed said that it was Mehdi’s intention to take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Mehdi Kazemi was studying in the United Kingdom on a student visa and applied for asylum in the UK following the execution of his partner by Iranian authorities after being found guilty of sodomy. His former partner told the Iranian authorities – it is thought under torture – of the relationship. When his asylum application was turned down Mr. Kazemi fled to Europe and after short stays in the Czech Republic and Germany, arrived in the Netherlands where is applied for asylum. Told of today’s court decision, Michael Cashman, the president of the European Parliament’s Lesbian and Gay Intergroup and one of the MEPs sponsoring an emergency debate in the European Parliament on Thursday, said he was urging the UK government not to deport Mr. Kazemi back to Iran. “I call on the UK Government to do all they can to ensure that this man is not returned back to Iran and face certain death,” he said in a statement. Mr. Cashman, a Labour (PSE) MEP for the West Midlands, co-signed a motion with party colleague Pasqualina Napolitano which will be considered Thursday by Parliament as a matter of urgency. The European Parliament will be told that if the young man is returned to the UK, he will face possible deportation to Iran. The resolution to be considered in Strasbourg highlights that European Union asylum law has to be applied by member states on an individual case basis and that persecution for sexual orientation should be an automatic ground to grant asylum. It also calls on the EU institutions and Member States, under their European and international human rights obligations, to take action to avoid such situations as Mehdi Kazemi’s occurring in the future. “I believe that Mr Kazemi faces certain persecution if he returns to Iran and his life would be imperilled,” said Mr. Cashman, who co-initiated the resolution on behalf of the Socialist Group in the Parliament. “I am glad that case will allow the European Parliament to reaffirm its commitment to protecting fundamental human rights and I urge the UK authorities to take note of the recommendations of the motion.” The full motion, agreed by political groups, is HERE (opens in MS Word file) [added March 12 and is the final draft] ■ The debate on Mehdi Kazemi is scheduled for Thursday (March 13) during the Parliament’s debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law at the end of this week’s session in Strasbourg. The debate is set to begin at 15:00 central European time (14:00 UK time). When in session, live video coverage of the European Parliament is available in all official European languages. Click HERE for the English language coverage. There is a language selection facility on this page. SEE ALSO Christmas Gift from Netherlands for Gay Iranian – One Way Ticket to UK. It was not the Christmas present that a young gay Iranian wanted. A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Mehdi, the gay Iranian teenager, has to be returned to the United Kingdom, where he faces deportation back to Iran. (UK Gay News, December 24, 2008) Gay Iranian Teen Awaits Decision of Dutch Court Over Return to UK. A young gay Iranian, who fled the United Kingdom in fear after his asylum application with the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency failed earlier this year, will be spending the festive season hoping that a Dutch court will allow him to stay in the Netherlands. (UK Gay News, December 21, 2007) They Hang Gay Teenagers, Don’t They? A gay Iranian teenager whose asylum claim was denied in the UK fled to the Netherlands, and then to Germany. The Germans returned him to the Dutch, who are now threatening to return him to the Brits, who have already decided to return the gay teenager to Iran. And you know what they do to gay teenagers in Iran, right? (Seattle Stranger - USA, December 20) Young Gay Iranian Soon on His Way Back to UK? Mehdi, the young gay Iranian who fled the United Kingdom in April, could be back in the country within weeks, his uncle revealed last night. (UK Gay News, October 17, 2007) Nineteen Year Old Says ‘I Am an Iranian Gay’. The following email has been received by the IRanian Queer Organisation in Toronto from a young gay man who was studying at school in UK and, after difficulties with the UK Home Office over asylum managed to flee England, ending up in the Netherlands. The letter is published here as written. (UK Gay News, September 26, 2007) Don’t Leave Iranian Gays Abandoned. By Mehdi. This article was written by a 19-years-old gay Iranian who tells how, while he was a student in London, his boyfriend back home was executed for being gay. Mehdi says he was scared of returning home and meeting the same fate when his student visa expired last year – and of his asylum application to the Home Office. (UK Gay News, April 18, 2007) LINK
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