>There have been several cases recently of LGBT persons asking the UK for asylum and being refused when there are ample reasons to believe that those people would be in danger of their lives should they go back to their country of origin.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The UK Government is committed to providing protection for those individuals found to be genuinely in need, in accordance with our commitments under international law. If an application is refused, there is a right of appeal to an independent judge, and we only return those who have been found by the asylum decision-making process and the independent courts not to need international protection”. However, the Home Office claims that a gay person can return, for example, to Iran and avoid persecution by being “discreet”. All the advice is that to be discreet means that one would have to deny one’s identity.
A petition has been placed on the Prime Minister’s website with the following text: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop deporting gays and lesbians to countries where they may be imprisoned, tortured or executed because of their sexuality.
Sign the petition here.
See also:
* No gay person should be sent back to Iran – The Independent. (Mehdi has now been granted a reprieve by the Home Secretary (story)).
* Now Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain faces deportation – The Independent.
* BBC News video on the Kazemi case (includes interviews of Arsham Parsi and Peter Tatchell) – YouTube
* Gays Without Borders