Gay Iranian Faces Deportation From Netherlands

[WillParkinson]

(The Hague) Mehdi Kazemi was waiting in a Dutch center for asylum seekers Friday as the country's highest court mulled his fate — in what campaigners fear could be a life or death decision for the gay Iranian teen.

Kazemi, 19, says he traveled to London to study English in 2005 and applied for asylum in Britain after learning that his lover in Iran had been executed for sodomy, his lawyer Borg Palm said.

Kazemi's case highlights not only the plight of homosexuals in Iran, but also differences in the way European Union allies deal with asylum seekers.

After Kazemi's application was rejected by British authorities, he fled to Europe and applied for asylum in the Netherlands, where usually strict immigration authorities are more liberal when dealing with Iranian gays because of persecution they face at home.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/03/030708iran.htm

[DesertFlower]

1. that's very sad.

i hope he can stay.

[qb]

2. WTF??? This is a no-brainer. How could he be facing deportation???

I am so sad for him. I hope he can stay and find happiness in the Netherlands.

[ThomCat]

3. I'll bet a bunch of homophobic bureaucrats are all worried

that if they save this kids life every gay person on earth will suddenly move to London. Oh, the horror!
x(

[wpelb]

4. London is not in The Netherlands

The fear, if there is one, would be that they'd move to Amsterdam or The Hague.

Here are some pages of photos of gays being hanged in Iran:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50087332@N00/298265577/

http://joshuapundit.blogspot.com/2006/04/open-season-death-squads-targeting.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/22/102249/246

Yeah, I know some of the photos are duplicated.

Here are some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dgsZYA1mPY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlxUg6ihXYo

These are not for the squeamish.

A boy as young as 15, and a girl as 9, can be executed. The age at which the crime is committed is not a factor, only the age at which the execution is carried out (according to the sources; I don't know how believable they should be).

[Traps]

5. Outrageous

We covered this in depth - many comments from around the world as well :

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/traps/2008/03/12/death-penalty-at-birth-gay-iranian-teenager-faces-gallows-after-asylum-rejected/