Gordon Brown PR statement

Gordon Brown's Press Secretary was asked for comment on the case this afternoon. He restated the Home Office line:

The Government’s general position was that it was committed to providing protection for those individuals found to be genuinely in need in accordance with the Government’s commitments under international law. The Government examined with great care each individual case before removal and would not remove anyone who it believed was at risk on his or her return. If an application was refused, there was a right of appeal to an independent judge.

It would be good if a journalist asked one of these spokesmodels if - as immigration lawyers and campaigners know - that the Home Office's position is that people like Mehdi can be homosexual 'on the quiet', therefore no 'risk', therefore we can send them back. That somehow homosexuality is a 'lifestyle choice'. Meaning that they 'choose' to be persecuted, they 'choose to break laws'.

The problem is a homophobic Home Office whose actual policy towards gay refugees is interchangeable with Iranian policy towards gays: it's a 'choice'. Ask them that.