Groundbreaking legal guide to assist transgender immigrants to the US

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has released the first immigration law practice manual for attorneys representing transgender clients. Immigration Law and the Transgender Client, co-authored by Immigration Equality and the Transgender Law Center (TLC), provides practical advice and information to assist attorneys representing transgender immigrants.

"We are proud to publish this groundbreaking manual dealing with the intersection of two dynamic areas of law - transgender civil rights and immigration law," said AILA Publications Director Tatia L.

Gordon-Troy. AILA is the national association of over 11,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law.

"Every day we hear from transgender immigrants who face incredibly complicated legal issues. From obtaining corrected identity documents, to fighting for marriage recognition, to seeking asylum to escape persecution, transgender immigrants need well-trained legal counsel," said Victoria Neilson, Legal Director of Immigration Equality.

Transgender immigrants often face overwhelming legal issues, and all too often the attorneys who want to help them, just lack the resources they need. Immigration Law and the Transgender Client addresses unique issues faced by transgender immigrants and those in bi-national relationships, including identity documents, asylum, detention, and marriage-based petitions.

"This area of the law is so specialized that LGBT civil rights attorneys often lack the immigration expertise to properly advise transgender immigrants, and immigration practitioners lack the cultural competence and understanding of transgender legal issues to adequately represent these clients," said TLC Legal Director Kristina Wertz. "The immigration practice manual seeks to close that gap."

Edited by Neilson, the manual provides an unprecedented resource for attorneys seeking information about the unique needs and issues faced by transgender clients.

"Victoria Neilson's expertise in this field is now more accessible to immigration attorneys and will foster a new cadre of attorneys with similar expertise," said Gordon-Troy.

Immigration Law and the Transgender Client can be purchased from the American Immigration Lawyers Association at http://aila.stores.yahoo.net/transgender.html for $69 ($49 for AILA members). An online version can be accessed at
http://www.immigrationequality.org/template3.php?pageid=1135.

Immigration Equality is a national organization that works to end discrimination in U.S. immigration law, to reduce the negative impact of that law on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive people, and to help obtain asylum for those persecuted in their home country based on their sexual orientation, transgender identity or HIV-status.

The Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. TLC uses direct legal services, education, community organizing, and advocacy to transform California into a state that recognizes and supports the needs of transgender people and their families.
Transgender Law Center and Immigration Equality would like to thank The Arcus Gay and Lesbian Fund for their support of this project.

Swedish threat to gay Iranian refugees

IGLHRC

Early this year, the Swedish government set a dangerous precedent in settling an important asylum case involving a gay man from Iran. Now that precedent may be used to expel a number of gay Iranians from Sweden, to face imprisonment or death at home.

Swedish asylum policy is governed by the Aliens Act of 1989. An amendment which came into effect in 1997 (Chapter 3, paragraph 3.3) explicitly includes gays and lesbians as a protected category, offering asylum to any person "who due to her/his sex or homosexuality experiences a well-founded fear of persecution."

However, according to Stig-Ake Petersson, asylum coordinator of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian and Gay Rights (RFSL), the specific language has in fact tightened rather than broadened the opportunities for receiving asylum based on sexual orientation. The authorities' interpretation of the term "well-founded fear of persecution" has in practice been extremely restrictive.

The term, according to Petersson, is taken to require each applicant to produce court documents from their home country demonstrating that she or he is currently under legal investigation for homosexuality as a criminal offense.

The first person to receive asylum based on sexual orientation after the explicit inclusion of homosexuality in the 1997 legislation was a gay man from Iran. His case had been pending since 1994.

According to the applicant, shortly after his arrival in Sweden, Iranian police had searched his former domicile and found evidence of his homosexuality. They had informed his parents that, if they found their son, they would execute him as they had already done with his former lover.

In deciding on his case, the Swedish Government found that, in Iran, homosexuals do not face persecution solely on the basis of their sexual orientation, but only on the basis of the practice of their sexuality. The Government further claimed that the death penalty for sodomy is no longer enforced in Iran--although reports indicated that it had been carried out as recently as November 1997.

However, in May 1998, the Government nonetheless granted asylum to the individual applicant, recognizing that the publicity surrounding his case might place him at risk on his return, while denying that his homosexuality per se might endanger him.

The Government's precedent-setting finding about the absence of persecution in Iran, however, creates impediments to the cases of a number of other gay and lesbian Iranians still awaiting decisions on their asylum applications in Sweden. A recent decision by the Aliens Appeals Board has made it likely that most of these applicants will not be granted residence permits in Sweden, and will be repatriated to Iran.

RFSL contends that Swedish immigration policy is placing these persons' lives in extreme danger. It asks for urgent letters of protest to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Aliens Appeals Board.

These letters should refer to Case UN 98-05283. They should remind the Government that there is strong reason to suppose that gay and lesbian Iranians repatriated to their home country will face not only social ostracism but criminal penalties ranging from cruel and unusual physical punishment to imprisonment and death.

They should also remind the Government that unreasonable requirements upon applicants to produce documentary evidence of their own legal situations are simply unnecessary: they can only detract attention from the substantial and credible evidence of a climate of homophobic persecution existing in Iran. They should remind the Government that Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--which in this, the fiftieth anniversary of its promulgation, has achieved the unquestioned status of customary international law--guarantees that "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

The Government's attempts to deny this right by irrationally burdensome bureaucratic requirements threaten to situate it outside the pale of open and civil polities.

Direct your letters to:

Aliens Appeals Board (Utlänningsnämnden)
Box 45102
104 30 STOCKHOLM
Telefax: 46-8-30 15 39

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utrikesdepartementet)
Pierre Schori
103 39 STOCKHOLM
Telefax: 46-8-723 11 76

Gay Iranian refugee wins in Malaysia

Arsham Parsi

In December 22, 08 we call to action for Ali, an Iranian gay asylum seeker in Malaysia which you can find it on IRQR website in Queer Refugee page.

We have just been informed that United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur has finalized Ali's case and officially recognized him as a refugee.

Ali was so excited and happy when he called us today morning. He said: "my hands are shivering now and I can not believe it." And he continued "I do not know how I should thank IRQR and all people who supported me"

This is wonderful news for Ali; for IRQR; and for supporters and allies of all queer refugees.

In just a few weeks, UNHCR received a multitude of emails urging quick action on Ali's case. This happy news is a testament to what international community support can help achieve.

We thank all who supported Ali by writing to UNHCR for their quick action and assistance. We also express great thanks to UNHCR for recognizing Ali and we have hope that the same will be done for other Iranian queer asylum seekers.

There are more Iranian queer refugees who are still in the lengthy and complicated process toward refugee status that need a great deal of support and assistance. We hope to have your continued support with these applicants, and will contact you in the near future for further action.

EU MEPs protest anti-LGBT Nigeria

Yesterday, one of the official intergroups of the European Parliament, the Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights, asked for the suspension of all EU foreign aid to Nigeria in reaction to the 18 January passage of legislation banning same-sex marriages by the Nigerian House of Representatives.

Before this measure was even passed, Nigerian law was already some of the most Anti-Gay in the world.

In a statement release on their website Michael Cashman, President of the LGBT Intergroup said:

I do not understand how legislators in such a big and diverse country can be so cruel and indifferent to millions of their own people who are already such a marginalised and oppressed minority in their country."

Vice-President Sirpa Pietikäinen also added:

I am really surprised that no politician in the House of Representatives stood up against this proposal to state-sponsored homophobia. From our history in Europe we know what atrocities can be caused by disrespect of minority rights. The African continent unfortunately has similar experiences. That is why I am ashamed of the Nigerian politicians who do not dare to stand up against inequality."

But one Nigerian representative, Igo Aguma, said it was against the religious beliefs of Nigerians as well as the country’s penal code to “engage in activities that are as quarrelsome as this between man and man, as well as women and women.” Nigeria is 50 percent Muslim, 40 percent Christian with animists making up 10 ten percent.

It is time for us at this point in time to think back and look at the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The greatest means of transmitting this disease is through the act of sodomy. Young children are already victims of been lured into this cruel and unimaginable act. It is an act of perversion,”

While it is true that HIV/AIDS is on the rise in Nigeria, this probably has more to do with poverty, government corruption and religious bigotry, and a Nigerian government study on aids say, "Some 80% of HIV infections in Nigeria are transmitted through heterosexual sex…".

In 2007 Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who said, “Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God’s purpose for man,” pushed for laws in Nigeria that provided for five year’s imprisonment to anyone who “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person of the same sex,” “performs, witnesses, aids or abets the ceremony of same sex marriage” or “is involved in the registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, sustenance, procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”

There are nearly 18 million active Anglicans in Nigeria.

Source

London protest about Senegal arrests cancelled

Peter Tatchell

The planned LGBT / HIV human rights protest outside the Senegal Embassy in London on Friday 23 January has been canceled.

This is at the request of LGBT and HIV activists in Senegal. They say negotiations are going well with the Senegalese government for the release of nine men from jail. Although the activists appreciate our planned protests and have expressed their gratitude for our support, they now feel that negotiations are at a very delicate stage and they are nervous that protests might alienate the government.

Senegalese LGBT and HIV campaigners have therefore asked that we postpone the Friday protest. We feel obliged to respect their wishes.

I hope you understand.

I want to express my immense appreciation to all of you who were ready and willing to join us outside the Embassy, and apologise if this cancellation has cause you any inconvenience.

Below is a copy of an email that I received on Thursday night from a leading Senegalese campaigner, which includes a positive assessment of the prospects for the men's freedom in the near future.

Message from Dakar, Senegal

Dear Peter,

Thank you very much for your commitment and your support.

I went to see our friends in jail this afternoon. They well treated and in safe conditions.

Our contacts and dialogue with the government officials are positive and will certainly end with the release of our friends. We will keep you informed.

Thanks again for you solidarity.

Daouda DIOUF
Director
ENDA Tiers Monde/ Santé
Dakar, Senegal

U.S. Asylum Law Requires Same-Sex Partners to Split Up

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dumped an unwelcome post-Christmas message on a gay Indonesian man, Parulian Hasibuan on December 26, when it rejected his attempt to win the right to stay united in America with his same-sex partner. The unanimous panel ruled in Hasibuan v. Mukasey, 2008 Westlaw 5396467, that Mr. Hasibuan, who had missed the one-year deadline for filing an asylum petition, and who was found not eligible for withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture, could not argue that his same-sex partner was a "qualifying relative" to attempt to benefit from the protection accorded spouses of U.S. citizens.

The court’s brief memorandum opinion provides few facts, although it is noted in passing that Hasibuan relied on evidence that he had been beaten by his father and suffered two attacks at the hands of others, but the court found that "substantial evidence" (which it did not feel obliged to describe) "supports the BIA’s determination that the beatings by Hasibuan’s father and the two attacks Hasibuan suffered did not rise to the level of past persecution." (The significance of this ruling is that a finding of past persecution would raise a presumption that the petitioner would encounter future persecution if returned to his home county. The lack of such a finding leaves the petitioner with the burden of proving that such persecution would occur.) The court also found that "Hasibuan has not demonstrated a clear probability of future persecution if he returns to Indonesia," or that he would be tortured there, a prerequisite to protection under the CAT.

As to Hasibuan’s attempt to put forth his same-sex relationship as a reason to let him stay in the U.S., the court cited still-prevailing 9th Circuit precedent, Adams v. Howerton, 673 F.2d 1036 (9th Cir. 1982), which held that only parties to heterosexual marriages were "spouses" within the meaning of federal immigration law. The enactment of the Defense of Marriage Act, not mentioned by the court directly, subsequent to Adams, would seem to make that ruling a concrete part of American law.

"Because Hasibuan has not asserted that he and his partner are married under state law," wrote the court, "Hasibuan lacks standing to bring a constitutional challenge to the federal definition of spouse. . . In addition, because Hasibuan does not assert that he attempted to marry his partner, he also lacks standing to challenge California’s marriage laws." Thus, the court rejected Hasibuan’s claim that the refusal to accord him the same rights as a person married to a U.S. citizen was a violation of his own constitutional rights. The clear implication is that if Hasibuan and his partner had married in a jurisdiction affording such a right (such as California between mid-June and November 5), he would at least have standing to challenge DOMA and its effect on immigration law.

There is no indication on the court’s opinion whether Hasibuan was represented by counsel on his appeal.

Source

UN working to ensure release of gay men jailed in Senegal

Stressing that homophobia has no place in the response to the AIDS epidemic, the United Nations today deplored the jailing of nine gay men who were members of a group working to provide condoms and HIV treatment in Senegal, and said it is working with a coalition of partners to ensure their release.

The men, who were arrested in mid-December, were sentenced by a Senegalese court for acts against nature and the creation of an association of criminals. Their case is currently on appeal.

"There is no place for homophobia. Universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support must be accessible to all people in Senegal who are in need—including men who have sex with men," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

"This will only happen if the men convicted are released and steps taken to rebuild trust with affected communities," he added.

UNAIDS has teamed up with civil society organizations, the public sector and partners such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the French Embassy and the Swedish Embassy representing the European Union, to ensure the release of the detainees, all of whom work for an association called AIDES Senegal.

The agency added that homophobia and criminalization of consensual adult sexual behaviour represent major barriers to effective responses to HIV.

"Such responses depend on the protection of the dignity and rights of all those affected by HIV, including their right and ability to organize and educate their communities, advocate on their behalf, and access HIV prevention and treatment services," it said in a statement.

In addition to taking the necessary steps for the release of the nine men, UNAIDS urges the Government to undertake efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination faced by men who have sex with men and create an enabling legal environment for them and the organizations working with them so as to protect their rights and increase access for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

Calling for the creation of a social and legal environment that guarantees respect for human rights, the agency recommends that "criminal law prohibiting sexual acts between consenting adults in private should be reviewed with the aim of repeal."

Just days before the arrests took place, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay had lamented the fact that that there are still too many countries that criminalize sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and that some 10 States still have laws making homosexual activity punishable by death.

"No human being should be denied their human rights simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. No human being should be subject to discrimination, violence, criminal sanctions or abuse simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity," she said in a message to a discussion on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, held at UN Headquarters in New York.

"Those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, those who are transgender, transsexual or intersex, are full and equal members of the human family and are entitled to be treated as such," she stressed.

Source

3rd Circuit Finds No Jurisdiction to Shelter Gay Man From Senegal

Sometimes the juxtaposition of a news story and a judicial opinion makes for strange contrasts. News reports during the first week in January that nine men in Senegal had been tried on charges of "conspiracy" and "unnatural acts" and sentenced to eight years in jail as part of an apparent crackdown on homosexuals followed close on a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3^rd Circuit in Ndiaye v. Attorney General, 2008 WL 5397718 (Dec. 29, 2008) (not officially published), rejecting an attempt by a gay man from Senegal to stay in the United States despite his conviction here on drug charges. The court noted that the Immigration Judge had found lacking in the petitioner’s case evidence to contradict a State Department Country Report on Senegal indicating homosexuality was not illegal there.

According to the per curiam opinion, the petitioner, a native and citizen of Senegal, came to the U.S. in 1988 as a visitor with a 30-day tourist visa, which he apparently overstayed. According to his testimony, he had figured out that he was gay when he was 14, but did not tell anyone or act on it at that time. In 1973 he married and had seven children. However, at some point he decided he could not keep this secret any longer and told his family he was gay. They shunned him, he left his home and his country, and arrived in the U.S. in 1988. He testified that he never actually engaged in homosexual conduct in Senegal, but since coming to the U.S. he has had two homosexual relationships, and he fears he would be harmed if he returned to Senegal (where, after all, his family knows he is gay and the word would undoubtedly spread).

His problem is that he became involved in drug dealing in the U.S. In 2005, he was convicted in federal court of conspiracy to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute, earning him a 70-month prison sentence and bringing him to the attention of immigration authorities, who initiated removal proceedings against him. In response, he attempted to seek asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture, claiming fear of persecution on account of his sexual orientation.

Because he is a convicted felon, asylum is not available. Because drug dealing is denominated a "particularly serious crime" under immigration law, withholding of removal is also unavailable. That leaves only the possibility of CAT protection, for which a petitioner must meet the high burden of showing a clear probability that he would be tortured on account of his sexual orientation if deported back to Senegal. In this case, the IJ relied on a 2006 State Department Country Report documenting that there is discrimination against gays in Senegal, but no likelihood of torture. The petitioner argued that homosexuality was illegal in his home country, but the IJ concluded that the Country Report stated the contrary. The IJ noted that despite the sympathetic factors in this case – most importantly that petitioner had resided in the U.S. for 20 years and was 63 years old – there was nothing he could do for him under U.S. law, and the BIA affirmed without a written opinion.

The court agreed with the government’s argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to review the IJ’s determinations. Because petitioner was convicted of an "aggravated felony," the statute limits the court’s jurisdiction to constitutional claims or questions of law. The government argued that the points petitioner was raising on appeal all related to "issues of fact and questions regarding the consideration, interpretation, and weight of the record evidence," not legal or constitutional questions.

The irony in this, of course, is that the 2006 Country Report relied upon by the IJ is clearly out of date concerning conditions for gays in Senegal, if the press reports from early in January 2009 are accurately conveying the situation. The New York Times, for example, reports on the rise of anti-gay sentiment in Africa, especially Islamic Africa, commenting that "even in Senegal, one of the most liberal and tolerant countries in Islamic Africa, tensions over homosexuality have been on the rise." Supporting this point, the Times noted the arrest last year of a group of men "after a magazine printed photographs of what purported to be a gay wedding," and the recent flight of one of those arrested men, a popular singer, seeking asylum in the U.S. One of the men whose arrests were the subject of the January 9 Times story was a prominent gay activist who was working with AIDS organizations to counter the spread of HIV in the "largely clandestine gay community in Senegal." The article also specifically commented that Senegal "has become increasingly intolerant of homosexuality in recent years despite its reputation for liberalism and openness."

Thus, the irony that due to the nature of administrative process and judicial review as constricted by federal immigration statutes, the petitioner in this case cannot present evidence of current conditions to bolster his claim for refugee in the U.S., even though it is current conditions, not those prevailing back in 2006, that he would face upon his return. Something is basically wrong with a system that by its nature relies on outdated information when the individuals subject to the system will be confronted by the current situation. A.S.L.

Source

LGBT asylum news note: "The Country Report stated the contrary" is often the case in the UK

Iran Guards Against Gay Invasion

SATIRE

TEHRAN, Iran (CAP) - President Bush today signed off on a plan to send analysts from the Department of Homeland Security to Iran for several weeks to assist in the implementation of a color-coded advisory system. While the United States uses such a system to alert its citizens to potential terrorist threats, the Iranians will be utilizing the technology for a different purpose.

"As you can see, right now it is on Green, or Low. And you can see right underneath it says No gays present. It is just as President Ahmadinejad said," explained Iranian Cultural Affairs Secretary Ahmed Dabashi as he pointed to a large, color-coded graph behind him.

"If the Great Satan Bush were to have his soldiers penetrate a gay man over our borders, we would know, and the level would rise to Blue/Guarded, or One gay detected," said Dabashi. "We would then take appropriate action. Gas a village, that sort of thing."

Other levels in the system, codenamed the Homosexual Security System, include Elevated/Yellow ("More gays"), High/Orange ("Lots more gays"), and Severe/Red ("Gay invasion!"). The color-coding is merely an interface for a complex technological system being set up by the DHS analysts in Iran.

"We call it Gaydar," said Pentagon spokesperson Alice Witherall. "The system is composed of a great many components that I can't really get into because of their classified status. What they essentially do is monitor a person's speech patterns, their walk, what they do with their hands, whether they flutter them like a bird, or clench them all angry and manly-like; what are their shopping patterns - Vogue or Woodworker Monthly, top-shelf strawberry-scented shampoo or whatever's cheapest; what do they wear, do for fun, who are their friends.

"It's pretty much the same sort of things that kick in whenever you sign out a library book, only more tuned to gay," Witherall said.

Since there are no gay people in Iran of whom to ask an opinion, CAP News contacted several gay/lesbian groups in the United States for their reaction to the new Iranian Homosexual Security System. To our surprise, the response was pretty much a large "ho-hum."

"If you're gay and you feel the need to live in Iran, there's something wrong with you at the outset, OK?" said Darryll Jennings of the LA-based group Gay Power Now. "It's only marginally better than this country. I can't marry, and wish me luck if I wanted to adopt or join the military. Sure the chimpster hasn't gassed a village to root me out, but give him time.

"I just want to know what Br'er Rabbit came up with the lovely rainbow 'oh no, it's a homo' chart," Jennings added.

Not surprisingly, one segment of the U.S. that stands firmly behind Iran's attempts to eradicate even a whiff of gay is evangelical churches and other religious-based family groups.

"Say what you want about Iran, they don't put up with any sissy stuff," said James Dobson of the group Focus on the Family. "No gay musical movies, no male cheerleaders, no crying when you stub a toe or cut a finger off in shop class, no sir. We'll be watching this Gaydar thing very closely over the next few months."

Source

Plight of Iraqi refugees

Salam Pax, the (gay) Iraqi blogger, interviews Iraqi refugees in the UK for BBC Newsnight.

Protest at Senegal High Commission

Gay Activists Alliance intl and OutRage have organised a Protest at the Senegal High Commission, 39, Marlos Road, London W8 6LA on Friday 23 January from 1-4pm.

The protest concerns the recent eight-year sentences, in threatening conditions, for nine men accused of ‘indecent and unnatural acts’.

Human Rights Watch said that the men are involved in HIV-prevention work, and were charged with "indecent and unnatural acts" and "forming associations of criminals." This shows how laws against homosexual conduct damage HIV- and AIDS-prevention efforts as well as the work of human rights defenders, they say.

Nearest tube is Kensington High Street


View Larger Map

For further information contact Dennis Hambridge, of Gay Activists Alliance

Email: dhambridge@btinternet.com

Guards at asylum seeker centre unmasked as BNP members

An investigation has been launched after two immigration staff working with asylum seekers were revealed to be members of the far-right British National Party.

The two employees worked as guards in a detention centre but were unmasked when a list of BNP members appeared on the internet in November.

After the list was made public, one resigned and the other was suspended, a UK Border Agency spokesman said.

The guards' BNP affiliation was revealed when a list of members was leaked on the internet. The Border Agency is now investigating how the two staff - who were employed on behalf of the Home Office by a private contractor - managed to slip through the net.

The contractor is investigating the case of the suspended guard, who will not be able to work with refugees or enter any immigration building during course of the probe.

Today's revelation will add to long-standing fears that race-hate extremists are working within the immigration system.

One newspaper claims to have uncovered nearly 300 allegations of brutality by private security and immigration staff over the past two years.

Of these complaints, all made by asylum seekers, 38 were claims of racism, with refugees being called 'monkeys' and told to 'go back to their own countries', The Independent said.

The BNP wants immigration halted, all 'criminal and illegal immigrants' immediately deported, and for all others 'a system of voluntary resettlement ... to their lands of ethnic origin'.

Its policy states: 'We will also clamp down on the flood of "asylum-seekers", all of whom are either bogus or can find refuge much nearer their home countries.'

The Border Agency spokesman said today: 'There is no place for racism in the immigration system,' said.

'We ask anyone carrying out duties on our behalf to sign a declaration stating they are not a member of the BNP, the National Front or Combat 18.'

However, only the police and the Prison Service treat BNP membership as grounds for dismissal.
Labour MP Diane Abbott said last night: 'If it is true that staff employed to work with asylum-seekers and immigrants are members of the BNP then it is yet another sign that the Home Office are allowing for the mistreatment of immigrants in this country.

'For years, campaign groups and my colleagues and I have been pointing out that hiring private contractors to work as immigration guards is a bad idea. It seems we will now have more proof of this.'

Source

Senegal: Free AIDS Activists

Eight-Year Sentences in Threatening Conditions for 9 Accused of ‘Indecent and Unnatural Acts’

Human Rights Watch

The sentencing in Dakar on January 6, 2009 of nine men who were involved in HIV-prevention work, on charges of "indecent and unnatural acts" and "forming associations of criminals," shows how laws against homosexual conduct damage HIV- and AIDS-prevention efforts as well as the work of human rights defenders, Human Rights Watch said today.

"These charges will have a chilling effect on AIDS programs," said Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program. "Outreach workers and people seeking HIV prevention or treatment should not have to worry about police persecution. Senegal should drop these charges and repeal its sodomy law."

HIV and AIDS advocates in Senegal report that the ruling has produced widespread panic among organizations addressing HIV and AIDS, particularly those working with men who have sex with men and other marginalized populations.

These nine men apparently were arrested merely on suspicion of engaging in homosexual conduct. In that case, international human rights provisions mandate their immediate release. So long as they remain detained - given the general climate of hostility against men perceived to engage in homosexual conduct and the risk of violence against them - Senegalese authorities should ensure their safety by separating them from other prisoners, if necessary. The authorities must also ensure that the men receive any necessary medical care, including antiretroviral therapy.

The men were detained on December 19, 2008, after several police officers burst into the private residence of an HIV outreach worker some miles outside Dakar at 11 p.m. and arrested all nine men in the house. The police confiscated condoms and lubricants - tools used for HIV-prevention work. The police forced several of the men to disclose family members' phone numbers and threatened to inform their families. Sources told Human Rights Watch that the men were beaten in detention, which would constitute a significant violation of Senegal's international human rights obligations.

The men were charged with violating article 319.3 of Senegal's penal code, which provides that "whoever commits an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex will be punished by imprisonment of between one and five years." Reports received by Human Rights Watch indicate that the men were not engaged in any activity considered criminal under Senegalese law.

At the trial, prosecutors apparently used the materials found in the house that are standard HIV-prevention tools used in outreach work as evidence of homosexual conduct, for which the men received the maximum five-year sentence. They were also found guilty of "criminal association" in violation of article 238 of the penal code, permitting the judge to add three years to their five-year term.

"Senegal's sodomy law invades privacy, criminalizes health work, justifies brutality, and feeds fear," said Long. "This case shows why it is time for the sodomy law to go."

The men's arrest and detention violates article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to liberty and security of person and rights against arbitrary detention. Senegal ratified the ICCPR in 1978, without reservations. Criminal trials under article 319.3 of the penal code violate Senegal's treaty commitments. Senegal should repeal article 319.3, which also severely hampers HIV/AIDS-prevention and education efforts, barring large populations from access to treatment and care.

The men were arrested only days after Senegal served as the host for the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in Africa (ICASA). Presentations at this conference pointed out the apparent contradiction in some countries, such as Senegal, which target HIV/AIDS-prevention efforts at populations of men of who have sex with men but continue to criminalize same-sex relations. Advocates working in HIV and AIDS prevention point out that such an approach necessarily drives the targeted populations underground and mitigates the efficacy of HIV intervention efforts.

Article 7 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders specifically provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance." The report of the special representative of the secretary-general on human rights defenders to the UN General Assembly specifically identifies human rights defenders from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities as being at particular risk and has called for greater state vigilance in protecting their rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which authoritatively interprets the ICCPR and evaluates compliance with its provisions, found in the 1994 case of Toonen v. Australia that laws criminalizing consensual homosexual conduct among adults violate the ICCPR's protections. According to UNAIDS data, at least 5 to 10 percent of HIV infections worldwide occur through sex between men, though this figure varies considerably by region. Laws criminalizing consensual sexual conduct drive these vulnerable populations underground and permit gross violations of the fundamental rights to life, freedom of expression and association, and health.

Iran's Hottest Porn Video

A hidden camera catches an Iranian cleric committing adultery, and the video rockets around the blogosphere, where a new generation can finally skirt state censorship.

A video scandal has hit the Iranian Internet scene. Like many online scandals in the West, it involves a model. Not Paris Hilton, but a supposed model of virtue: a cleric.

In the video — for weeks voted the top story on Balatarin.com (an Iranian version of Digg.com) — a robed cleric is caught on a hidden camera in a private room. He walks to the door to let a chador-clad woman enter.

“Nobody saw you come in, did they?” he asks her lightheartedly. As she removes her chador, he continues in the same tone: “Want to do some Nasnas?”

Iranians know Nasnas as a mythological monster. What the cleric means by “do some Nasnas” is clarified by what happens next in the clip. Americans have a similar expression: the beast with two backs.

The cleric was apparently a member of the government-run Friday Prayers Committee in Hamadan province. Semi-official news sites tried to downplay the impact of the video, which leaked out of an Intelligence Ministry investigation. But their reports did acknowledge that the man involved was a married cleric, and that the video depicts the consummation of an unlawful affair.

“One thing we had never seen before was a cleric’s naked butt,” commented one young Iranian below the online video clip. “Thanks to the Internet, that is no longer impossible!”

Of course, it is hardly news that hormones do not always heed titular expectations, but this is the first video evidence of a cleric’s misbehavior to spread publicly. Iranians’ glee at exposing such hypocrisy, however, is tinged by another sentiment: anger.

Many remember how last year — ironically in the same province of Hamadan — a medical student was arrested by the “Morality Patrol” for sitting with her fiancé in a public park. When her family was finally allowed to visit her 48 hours later, they were asked to remove her lifeless body.

Police claimed she had hanged herself in the temporary detention centre, and the state blocked an investigation by warning that any discussion “would only give the enemy’s propagandists their much-needed opportunity to attack us.”

These “opportunities” — an Orwellian euphemism for scandals — have dramatically increased in the past few months: The Tehran police chief was found to have an odd fetish, ordering six prostitutes in a brothel to say their prayers before him while naked (he is currently free on bail); the Minister of Interior faked a degree from the “London-based” Oxford University (he was recently impeached); and now the Hamadani cleric who likes to “do some Nasnas” has reportedly been sentenced to 100 lashes and banished to another province.

Such scandals have always existed, but until recently there was no means to expose them so efficiently. Somewhat belatedly and in stilted form, digital citizens’ journalism has come to Iran. Scandals that would once have been hushed up by official censorship now circulate in living color online.

Thanks to video clips circulating on web forums accessed via anti-filtering software, myths are being exposed and a new open discussion is taking place. Blogs and social networking sites have provided the Iranians with safe blinds behind which they can peep at these scandals and whisper about them with one another.

Whether this new generation will ever leave their virtual windows to do anything more ambitious in the real world remains unclear. But it is worth recalling three decades ago, alternative media in the form of smuggled cassette tapes and smudgy leaflets informed young Iranians about Khomeini’s vision of an Islamic utopia.

Now, thirty years later, that supposed utopia is being exposed by that generation’s children, who are leading their own electronic cultural revolution.

Young Iranians have seen the future – and it is a senior cleric’s bare posterior.

The writer, who uses a pseudonym for his own safety, is a university student in Iran

Source

Gay Iranian In Need of Asylum In Malaysia

Ali fled Iran two years ago, but has still not received refugee status. The common complications that queer refugees experience are escalated for them because Ali is seriously depressed. Immediate attention by UNHCR is critical! Please read Ali's letter pleading for help, and then take action to make sure he is granted asylum within Malaysia.

Ali's letter:

"My name is Ali, and I am gay. In 2006, I fled Iran to Malaysia after I experienced many problems in Iran. In Malaysia I sought help from the UNHCR – I never thought that I would have to wait so long to have my rights recognized. I was not even allowed to enter the building the first time I went there. For four months, I was at the door every day pleading for help. Finally, I was granted an appointment for an interview for several months after that. Until now, I have been to many interviews, and every time, I have never given a solid answer, I am always told to come back the following month. I have now been here more than 2 years. Malaysia is a Muslim country, and like many predominantly Muslim countries, life is difficult for people like me. I am kindly asking you for your help so that I can leave here as soon as possible, so that I can live in a place that is free. A place where gay people do not feel shame, and do not feel like they have to hide who they are, a place where I know that the law protects our rights, and will not discriminate between me and anyone else, a place where I will not be beaten because of my sexuality."

Please show your support by writing to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur to urge them to expedite the refugee process for Ali. There are two ways you can help:

Send your letters to mlslu@unhcr.org and please cc IRQR info@irqr.net for tracking purposes. Be sure to specify Ali's case number 354-07C01854.

Investigation into claims of abuse on asylum-seekers

By Robert Verkaik, Law editor

Claims by hundreds of asylum-seekers that they have been beaten or abused by British guards during their detention and removal from this country are to be independently investigated for the first time, The Independent has learnt.

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has appointed Nuala O'Loan, the former Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, to conduct an investigation into mistreatment allegations first reported in this paper last year. Dame Nuala, who won praise and criticism from Catholics and Protestants for her robust style in dealing with complaints against the police and led the inquiry into the handling of the Omagh bombing, has been given a wide remit to reopen cases of alleged brutality. She has also been asked to report on any failures of a system that allows private security guards to use "reasonable force" in restraining asylum-seekers.

The Home Secretary's intervention follows the publication of a detailed report in July that revealed nearly 300 cases of alleged physical assault and racial abuse in the past four years. The report, entitled Outsourcing Abuse, raised concerns about the control and use of private security firms in the detention and deportation of some of the most vulnerable people in British society.

Nearly 50 of the complainants contacted by the researchers and lawyers gave permission for the Government to reinvestigate or begin fresh investigations into their claims. Their names have been passed to the UK Border Agency.

Last night, the authors of the report welcomed Dame Nuala's appointment. Emma Ginn, of Medical Justice, which helps victims of abuse, said: "The Home Office had previously described allegations as 'unsupported assertions'. We note their change of tone now that national and global organisations have picked up on the issue."

Romain Ngouabeu, of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, added: "We continue to get allegations of assaults, including one on the day we published our report."

Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said last night: "I am very pleased to hear that Nuala O'Loan has been appointed to look into the allegation of abuse against immigrant. This is an incredibly serious matter that deserves nothing less than the most rigorous of investigations. I look forward to the results of the investigation – both in terms of justice being done and in terms of a concrete improvement in the way immigrants are treated while being detained or deported."

Many of the allegations, often supported by medical evidence, concern the use of excessive force in the removal of failed asylum-seekers on a scheduled flight. In some cases, pilots have refused to take off while the refugee is still on board, citing concerns for the safety of passengers.

Noreen Nafuna, a 38-year-old Ugandan woman, came to the UK three years ago after claiming to have been detained and beaten by the Ugandan army. Her application for asylum was turned down and she was held at Yarl's Wood removal centre in Bedfordshire before being taken to Gatwick by private security guards employed by the Home Office.

"I was carried up to the plane. I started screaming when I was brought to the top of the stairs. I was only wearing underpants and a bra. A jacket was placed over my neck and I was held around the neck so I couldn't make a noise."

In her complaint about her treatment, Ms Nafuna recounts: "Two of them sat on me. One of them placed her hands over my mouth to stop me shouting out. I was finding it hard to breathe. The plane was not full of passengers. A lady in a red suit came up with another woman. I heard her ask if I was still alive as I had stopped moving or making any sounds. They got off me then so I sat up. I was crying again. Then other passengers became aware of what was going on and told the officers to leave me alone. Everyone saw me bleeding. Eventually they called the pilot and he came up and said, 'We are not taking her.'"

Her complaint was eventually upheld by the Home Office after her legal action for assault was settled by the security company.

In another case, HM, a 16-year-old girl from Rwanda who claimed asylum after coming to Britain as a sex-trafficking victim, says she was assaulted by guards who removed her from a shower unit in a detention centre. She says she suffered bruising when she was handcuffed from behind in a semi-naked state and taken to a holding cell. Her claim was investigated and dismissed by the Home Office, although there was criticism of the way the guards had handled her.

The Home Office says that it properly investigates all complaints of such a nature but it does not recognise the large numbers contained in the report.

*In July last year, RH, an asylum-seeker from Burundi, was taken from his room in a detention centre by immigration escorts. He was handcuffed, and his legs were crossed at the ankle before being tied together with tape.

After struggling on his way to a van bound for Heathrow, he says he was beaten and kicked by the escorts before being dragged half-naked on to the plane. During the alleged assault, his handcuffs caused him to incur severe injuries to his wrists which were clearly visible.

The pilot came to investigate, and told the escorts he would not fly Mr RH out of the country in his current physical state. Other cases include that of Amos Alajaibo, a Nigerian who says he was beaten unconscious by guards after admitting he had talked to the media during a protest, and an Algerian man who was allegedly assaulted while in a wheelchair.

Suren Khachatryan, an Armenian, suffered a punctured lung after allegedly being stamped on by his immigration escorts in the back of a security van. Another detainee said he was "bound up like a parcel" by officials trying to force him on to a deportation flight. None of these complaints has been upheld.

Source

Outsourcing Abuse

Shock at Senegal gay jail terms

The jailing in Senegal of nine gay men for eight years over "indecent conduct and unnatural acts" has been condemned by an international gay rights group.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal but the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) told the BBC it was "shocked by the ruling".

The judge added three years to a five-year sentence, saying the men were also members of a criminal group.

Most of them belonged to an association set up to fight HIV and Aids.

"This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system has handed down such a harsh sentence against gays," said Issa Diop, one of the men's four defence lawyers.

Mr Diop said he would be appealing against the sentences.

The IGLHRC's Cary Alan Johnson said he was "deeply disturbed" by the case.

"There have been pretty consistent human rights violations… in Senegal," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme from Cape Town in South Africa.

"But the extremity of this sentence [and] the rapidness of the trial all really shocks us in a country which has been moving so positively towards rule of law and a progressive human rights regime."

'Schizophrenic'

The head of a gay rights organisation in Senegal told AFP news agency that the situation for gay people in the country was getting worse.

"Many gays are already fleeing to neighbouring countries because of our living conditions," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country and gay men and women remain socially marginalised.

Mr Alan Johnson said Senegal was "schizophrenic" in its attitudes.

Religious attacks on gay and lesbian people were on the increase, he said.

While Senegal recently played host to a major conference on Aids and sexually transmitted diseases, where "the needs of men who have sex with men were prominently featured", he said.

"There's both a movement towards progressive and inclusive culture but at the same time very, very strong movements towards oppression, specifically towards sexuality," he added.

In February 2008, a magazine editor received death threats after publishing pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men.

Several men were also arrested in connection with the publication but later released.

IGLHRC PR

Source

UK Responsible For Half of World’s Gay Sex Bans

By Rex Wockner

More than half of the world’s remaining bans on gay sex are relics of British colonial rule, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Dec. 17.

In a statement, the group “urged governments everywhere to affirm international human rights standards and reject the oppressive legacies of colonialism by repealing laws that criminalize consensual sexual activity among adults of the same sex.” The 66-page report, “This Alien Legacy: The Origins of ‘Sodomy’ Laws in British Colonialism,” describes how laws in more than three dozen countries, from India and Uganda to Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, derive from a single law on homosexual conduct that British rulers imposed on India in 1860. (The High Court in Delhi recently ended hearings in a years-long case seeking to decriminalize homosexual conduct, and a ruling in the landmark case is expected soon.)

“In the early 19th century, the British drafted a new model Indian Penal Code, finally put into force in 1860,” HRW said. “Section 377 punished ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ with up to life imprisonment. Versions of Section 377 spread across the British Empire, from Africa to Southeast Asia.”

Many of the laws persist despite the fact that England and Wales decriminalized gay sex in 1967, Scotland did so in 1981, and Northern Ireland saw its sodomy ban struck down by the European Court of Human Rights in 1981. “From Malaysia to Uganda, governments use these laws to harass civil society, restrict free expression, discredit enemies and destroy lives,” said Scott Long, director of HRW’s LGBT Rights Division.

Colonies and countries that retain versions of the British/Indian sodomy law include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Myanmar (Burma), Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Western Samoa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Governments that inherited the law but have repealed it include Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Eleven former British colonies in the Caribbean also retain sodomy laws, derived from another British model.

Human Rights Watch report

2 charged in Seattle with gay immigration fraud

A federal grand jury has charged two people in an alleged immigration fraud conspiracy, saying they advised straight immigrants to claim homosexuality - and potential persecution in their home countries - when they applied for political asylum.

Steven Mahoney, 41, and his estranged wife, Helen, 38, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Russia, were arrested Tuesday and pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors say Steve Mahoney ran Mahoney and Associates in Kent, and held himself out as an expert in immigration affairs. They say he made money by advising immigrants on how to stay in the U.S.

According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday, from 2003 to 2005 Steven Mahoney advised two immigrants to falsely claim that they were gay and feared persecution if they returned to their home country. In two other cases dating to 1998, he is accused of urging clients to claim they feared being maimed or tortured, though the indictment does not say if they too falsely said they were gay.

His wife's only alleged involvement was to provide a client - identified in charging papers as AK - with documents about homosexuality in preparing for an asylum interview in 2005, when she knew AK wasn't gay.

"Steven Mahoney advised and directed AK to state, on AK's asylum application, that the militia in AK's home country attempted to rape AK's wife because AK was gay, when in truth and fact, as known by Steven Mahoney, such act was not committed against AK's wife," the indictment said.

Both defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, which carries up to five years in prison. Steven Mahoney was charged additionally with three counts of immigration fraud, which carries a maximum 10-year penalty.

The immigrants seeking asylum were identified only by their initials in the indictment, and their home countries were not identified at all. It isn't clear whether any remain in the U.S.

Barry Flegenheimer, a lawyer appointed Tuesday to represent Helen Mahoney, said he had not had time to fully review the case. He said his client lives in suburban Auburn, cares for her invalid mother, and works out of her home as a seamstress.

Steven Mahoney's court-appointed attorney did not take questions following Tuesday's arraignment.

Source

Muslim Gays "Marrying" Lesbians To Avoid Family Pressure

All she has left of the person she used to be is contained in a 5-by-7 photo album with “Aliyah Bacchus” written in blue pen on its cover, each picture inside tucked beneath a slip of clear plastic.

There she is at 17, barely 90 pounds, smiling sourly on her wedding day in Queens, N.Y., dressed in hijab — a pearl-toned princess bridal gown shimmering with beads, her slender hands dipped in sleek white gloves, a veil attached to a white qimar, or head scarf, fastened snugly around her face. The man her father chose for her stands behind Aliyah wearing a black bow tie, his hands resting on her bony shoulders.
That was before. Before she walked out on the marriage. Before her Guyana-born Muslim family discovered she was gay. Before she fled.

That's how the article starts. A very interesting, sad but good article. Read it here...

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23068/muslim-lesbianism

What was even more interesting was the linked to article in the Washington Post about gays and lesbians marrying to avoid family pressure...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/23/AR2006062301417.html

Here's the text of the article about "intermarriage", or maybe it should be termed "open marriage" - the partner can have sex with others, between Muslim gays and lesbians. Fascinating!

On a Web site for gay South Asians, 27-year-old Syed Mansoor uploaded the following message last summer:

“Hi, I am looking for a lesbian girl for marriage. I am gay but I would like to get married because of pressure from parents and society. I would like this marriage to be a ‘normal’ marriage except for the sex part, please don’t expect any sexual relationship from me. Being an Indian gay person, I believe it is so much worth it to give up sex and have a nice otherwise normal family. We can be good friends and don’t have to repent all our life for being gay/lesbian.”

Across the globe and especially in America, hundreds of other gay Muslims have started to pursue marriages of convenience–or MOC, as they are known– in which gay Muslims seek out lesbian Muslims, and vice versa, for appearances’ sake.
[...]

Mansoor is also part of a burgeoning trend of gay Muslims adopting marriages of convenience. Hard statistics are hard to come by, but on a single Web site for South Asian gays and lesbians seeking such marriages, almost 400 requests had been uploaded.

They ranged from a desperate plea from Atlanta (”I just finished medical school, and the pressure for me to get married is becoming ridiculous. I can’t have a conversation with my parents without them pressuring me”) to a straightforward one from Texas (”I will not object to her having sex with other women”).

Mansoor credits the Internet for making these marriages a real possibility for gay Muslims. Gay activists agree and say that in recent years they have seen a rise in such marriages among Muslims.

Jack Fertig, a co-coordinator for al-Fatiha, a national advocacy group for gay Muslims, says he comes across at least one such e-mail request every month.

“It’s obvious that this is becoming a viable option,” he said. “People are seeking, looking and trying to make connections that could develop into such marriages.”

Other activists say gay Muslims are resorting to these unions for reasons of self-preservation.

“Marriages of convenience are the result of gay Muslims wanting to avoid emotional and physical harm to themselves,” says Muhammed Ali, a board member of Homan, a Los Angeles-based support group for gay Iranians.

Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in much of the Islamic world.
[...]

Though gay Muslims in America don’t have such fears, they still seek out marriages of convenience as a way of staying in the closet. Many of them worry about being ostracized from their families if their secret is revealed.

A marriage of convenience is the perfect solution, Mansoor said. “It’s a great option,” he said. “I get married to a lesbian, we sleep in different rooms and remain friends. Meanwhile, I can have a boyfriend.”
[...]

Muslim authorities around the world have repeatedly emphasized that homosexuality is not permissible. Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of North America said there is no flexibility on this topic.

“Homosexuality is a moral disorder. It is a moral disease, a sin and corruption. . . . No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer,” he said. “People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education.”

Mainstream Islamic scholars also take an unfavorable view of MOCs.

Source