Tough times for immigration lawyer

Image by publik16 via Flickr

Source: MRN

By Ruth Grove-White

These are tough times for immigration lawyers and advisors, as shown by the lively discussion at the annual conference yesterday of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS), one of the charities giving legal advice and representation to migrants in the UK.

Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems, opened the conference, giving a keynote speech about the stance of the coalition government on immigration and asylum. He said that immigration had proven one of the two key issues on which the two parties found it most difficult to find agreement (the other being Trident) - and hinted that the key policies which made it into the coalition manifesto, including a cap on economic migrants, were the source of ongoing debate between the two parties. The Lib Dem regularisation policy - dropped during coalition negotiations but which many including Hughes had been long-term advocates for - has continued to fuel plenty of backstage political analysis and debate as well. Hughes suggested that the tough economic climate to come might give rise to a new set of justifications for a regularisation in a couple of years.

A number of meaty legal issues came up at the IAS conference - including the increasing difficulties of getting, and providing, publicly funded legal advice on immigration and asylum, as a result of changes to legal aid regulations by the Legal Services Commission. The big elephant in the room was of course the recently closed Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), and there was real debate over whether the hundreds of  people whose cases have been left unresolved by the closure of RMJ have been properly handed over to other casework teams.

Other concerns at the conference included the introduction of the new interim cap - reported by lawyers at the conference to have already caused difficulties for many employers who have found their certificates of sponsorship curtailed. There was also lively discussion about the planned introduction of earned citizenship next year - it may have gone quiet under the coalition government, but has it gone away?

There were, however, some developments to celebrate. Two recent court cases - English UK vs the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) home secretary case and Pankina vs the SSHD - have been successful in challenging some particularly unfair aspects of the Points Based System, and checking the way the government can operate the 'flexibility' of the PBS.  See our blog on this for more.

So, as ever, much to worry about -  new threats on the horizon will be compounded by the major cuts planned for both home office and ministry of justice budgets which could be as much as 40% of current budgets - but encouraging developments in the courts too, indicating that there may be other challenges to the PBS - and potentially to the new/interim immigration cap being drafted into this system too. Watch this space...

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• Why Refugee and Migrant Justice must not be allowed to fail (newstatesman.com)
• Collapsed charity 'unable to manage its affairs' (guardian.co.uk)
• Refugee and Migrant Justice placed into administration (newstatesman.com)

LibDems support LGBT asylum overall

Simon Hughes MP speaking during the debate

The LiberalDemocrats have passed a motion at their annual conference calling on the government to "halt the deportation of people to countries where their sexual orientation or gender identification may mean that they are threatened with the risk of imprisonment, torture, or even execution."

Full text of the resolution

A series of speeches highlighted both the general principle and shocking individual cases, with speakers ranging from ordinary members to Party President Simon Hughes MP and Lord Roger Roberts.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said after the vote, "It is totally unacceptable for Britain to be deporting people to countries where they will face persecution, torture or death merely because of their sexual orientation. This country has a proud tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing tyranny and oppression.

"It is about time that practice was extended to gay and lesbian people escaping deeply unpleasant homophobic regimes."

Great support for gay immigration group

Source: UKLGIG

Sir Ian McKellan and other illustrious guests support UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group fund raising evening

At a fund raising evening held on Friday 20 June, an illustrious group gathered to support UKLGIGs work on behalf of LGBT asylum seekers and same sex bi-national couples.

Sir Ian McKellan, Michael Cashman MEP, Evan Harris MP, Simon Hughes MP and Ben Summerskill spoke to an audience of over 100 people, emphasising the pressing need to help LGBT asylum seekers in the UK and also the need to change attitudes towards LGBT people around the world.

Sebastian Rocca, Executive Director of UKLGIG said: We are extremely grateful to be able to call upon the support of such inspirational people. Despite the constant pressure of raising funds, we will not only continue our very successful work in helping LGBT people obtain the sanctuary they deserve, but also ensure that LGBT issues are always considered and included in the Home Office agenda.

The evening was rounded off with moving testimony from an Iranian gay and a Jamaican lesbian asylum seeker, comedy from TetraFlap (a lesbian comedy duo) and a performance from Ngati Ranana London Maori Club.

Over the last year, UKLGIG has helped more than 200 LGBT asylum seekers by providing information on the asylum process, finding expert legal representation, providing research and a safe environment for mutual support and has continued to give support to bi-national same sex couples.

Letter of thanks from Mehdi

I found out on Monday 19th of May 2008 that the government had granted me refugee status for the next five years. I am so happy about this and I just want to say thank you to all the people of Britain, The Netherlands, Italy and across Europe, Canada, America and the world, who have shown their concern for me, who have given me the support that I really needed and who have worked very hard to help me through difficult times and to get me to where I am now. I wouldn’t be alive if hadn’t been for your help. I will never forget everything that you have done.

I also want to say thank you to all the organisations who campaigned on my behalf, especially the EveryOne Group, Dutch COC, IRQO and Human Rights Watch, to UK Gay News and The Independent newspaper who chose to tell my story and to raise awareness of my plight. Thank you to the Members of Parliament in the UK, the Netherlands, in particular Mr Boris van der Ham, and the EU, Marco Cappato, Marco Pannella, Sophia in 't Veld and especially Mr Michael Cashman MEP, who asked the UK government to grant me asylum. I have written a separate letter to the Home Secretary to thank her for granting me refugee status, and to the Members of the British, Dutch and European Parliaments to thank them for their help. Thank you to Mr B.A Palm who represented me in The Netherlands and to my representative in this country, Gabriella Bettiga at Lawrence Lupin Solicitors, who helped me to make a fresh claim for asylum.

I would also like to say some very special thanks. I would like to say thank you to my local MP, Mr Simon Hughes, and his team who gave me the chance to live and made a miracle happen when he heard that my life was in serious danger and asked the Home Office to suspend my deportation in December 2006. I would not be here if it hadn’t been for his intervention. He was here for me then and he was here for me again when I was eventually sent back to the UK in April this year. I do not know if I would have been granted my refugee status without him.
I also wish to say the biggest thank you to my uncles, for all their support, for accepting me for who I am, for their hard work, for everything they’ve done for me, and most of all for their love.

I am so lucky to have them as my uncles and I am so proud of them.

Life has been very hard for me ever since I heard that my former boyfriend had been executed. I was very scared about what would happen to me and this is why I claimed asylum in the UK. I knew that the people of this country accepted homosexuality and that the government gave equal rights to people regardless of their sexuality. So when my asylum claim was refused I was shocked and very disappointed. I had expected more. I had expected to be given the same rights as people here. I thought the government would understand the very difficult situation that I was in.

I couldn’t understand why my claim was refused and then I felt that the judge didn’t listen to me at my appeal. I was detained very soon after my appeal was dismissed and things happened very quickly. One minute I was still going to school in Brighton and the next minute I was told that they had signed a deportation order against me and I would be going back in Iran a few days later. I was devastated and I felt that I was only one step away from death. I was told that I could appeal against the decision to deport me once I was back in Iran, but I thought, how can this be possible? Who will appeal? My dead body? I knew that only a miracle could save me then.

At this point, my uncle, with whom I had originally lived with when I arrived in the UK, contacted the local MP, Simon Hughes. He managed to suspend the deportation order just in time. I couldn’t believe that I had been given another chance. I was temporarily released but I was very scared that I would be in the same situation again just a few months later. I realised that I was not safe in the UK so I decided to flee. I had hoped to go to Canada, but I was arrested in the Czech Republic, taken to Germany and then I escaped again to Holland. I had heard that Holland had a special concession for gay Iranian asylum seekers and that they had a fairer law.

I spent about a year in Holland after I claimed asylum there. It was a very difficult year for me. Asylum seekers have no real rights. All you are allowed to be is an asylum seeker. You cannot study, or work, or do anything. You are only allowed to breathe. I did meet some very kind people in the Netherlands who went out of their way to help me and who became good friends. I would like to go back to see them some time soon. Eventually my asylum claim was refused again, this time in Holland, because under the European Regulation you have to be given asylum in the first country that you arrive in. I was very upset about this decision and I became very depressed. I thought, at least I have tried to save my life, I tried everything that I could but it didn’t work, and you can’t do anymore than that. I had had enough. I just wanted everything to be over. I didn’t want to live anymore.

I was returned to the UK in April. I was very scared but I was so pleased to see my uncles again. I had missed them very much. I was also very grateful and reassured by my local MP, Simon, who told me he would do everything he could to help. My family and I met with him very soon after I came back to the UK and he took the time to really listen to me. He asked me about what I had been through and he explained that he would tell the Home Office and the government why I should be allowed to stay in this country. He put me in touch with the solicitors who helped me to make a new claim for asylum. I am so grateful to Gabriella at Lawrence Lupin Solicitors for all her hard work and all the help she gave me. Simon also wrote a letter to the Home Office in support of my claim. I hadn’t expected to receive so much help and I really felt that there were people here who were fighting my corner.

I was told on Monday that the government had granted me refugee status. I cannot really say how good I feel. It’s the best news I have ever had. I am relieved and just very very happy. I feel that I can start to live again, to plan my life and my future. I can pick up where I left off when my situation became so difficult a couple of years ago. So I am back now and living with one of my uncles. I am making plans to continue with my studies. I would really like to go to university to study Pharmacology.

I am very much looking forward to the future and to doing all the things I thought I would no longer be able to do. But I do miss my family and my friends back at home, and I miss Iran. It is where I come from, Iran is my country and I think it is very sad that people there do not have the same rights as they do in this country and that this means I cannot live there at the moment. I hope that one day I will be safe and that I can live in my country again. I hope that other people in similar situations to mine will have the same rights, that they will no longer fear for their lives and they will have the freedom to live as they want to live and be who they are regardless of their sexuality.

But for now, I am so grateful to be here and to be safe. I want to say thank you again to the people of Britain, The Netherlands, Italy and across Europe, Canada, America and the world for their understanding, for giving me the right to live and to be who I am and who I want to be.

I do not want to say any more than this at the moment and I do not want the media to contact me because I would like to protect my life, my safety and my security. I just want to say thank you.

Mehdi

Simon Hughes statement

'DECISION THAT MEHDI KAREMI CAN STAY - 'GREAT NEWS FOR A VERY DECENT GUY'- SIMON HUGHES

5.17.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th May 2008

Responding to this week's decision that the young gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi has been granted leave to remain in the UK, Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey who led the argument for Mehdi to be given asylum said today:

"Like Mehdi and his family in Britain, I am delighted by the Home Office decision that my constituent Mehdi Kazemi can now stay in this country and will not be sent back to Iran.

"This is great news for a very decent guy.

"As I have argued over the last eighteen months, the Home Office should not send gay and lesbian people back to countries where they will be at risk of persecution, torture or worse.

" We are already at work planning the next phase of Mehdi's life in the UK. Mehdi now wants to finish his studies and then plans to work. I have no doubt Mehdi will make a very positive contribution to this country and society at large. "

Note for editors: Mehdi has been granted leave to remain for 5 years.

CNN: Britain grants asylum to gay Iranian student

From CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain has granted asylum to Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian student who faced deportation from the United Kingdom and feared execution in Iran for being homosexual, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Mehdi Kazemi feared persecution if he had to return to Iran.

"We keep cases under review where circumstances have changed and it has been decided that Mr. Kazemi should be granted leave to remain in the UK based on the particular facts of this case," Britain's Home Office said in a written statement quoting an unnamed UK Border Agency spokesman.

Kazemi's uncle, known as "Saeed," says his teenage nephew received an "unconditional" letter of asylum from the Home Office on Monday.

Kazemi, 19, moved to London to study English in 2004 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.

Fearing the same fate, he applied for asylum in Britain but was denied in 2007.

The office of Simon Hughes, the member of parliament who took up Kazemi's cause, said the Home Office has granted Kazemi leave for five years.

"Like Mehdi and his family in Britain, I am delighted by the Home Office decision that my constituent, Mehdi Kazemi, can now stay in this country and will not be sent back to Iran," Hughes said in a written statement.

"As I have argued over the last 18 months, the Home Office should not send gay and lesbian people back to countries where they will be at risk of persecution, torture or worse," he said.

Hughes was expected to meet with Kazemi late Tuesday.

Peter Tatchell, of the London-based gay rights activist group OutRage, said the decision "is a victory of sorts in that Mehdi has gotten only a temporary leave to remain. At the end of five years he will have to go through the whole appeal process again."

He added: "Mehdi wouldn't have got leave to remain if there hadn't been massive publicity to his case. There are many other gay and lesbian Iranian asylum seekers that are scheduled for deportation to Iran."

Mehdi granted 'leave to remain'

I am just waiting on confirmation for this but I have just heard second-hand that Mehdi has been granted asylum. More detail when I get it.

2.30pm: It's confirmed, Mehdi told the ukgaynews website that he had received a letter from the Home Office today to say his asylum request had been granted.

“I am so happy,” he said, adding that he was grateful to all the help he had been given, especially by Simon Hughes MP.

A statement will be issued tomorrow.

6.30pm: CNN reporting soon that Mehdi has been granted 'leave to remain' for five years. This is standard Home Office practice and is not the same as 'asylum'.

Further updates will be added as new posts.

MPs from all parties support Mehdi

MPs from all three main political parties have joined peers to call for a moratorium on the deportation of asylum-seekers to Iran.

A letter signed by seven MPs, including Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat), Andrew Dismore (Labour) and John Bercow (Conservative), says ministers have a moral duty to halt the deportation of any Iranian fearing persecution if returned to the state.

Simon Hughes organised the Commons letter.

The Lords' letter about the Mehdi Kazemi case shows growing awareness that sending asylum-seekers back to countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe is unacceptable because of the risk to their safety and the abhorrent behaviour of those regimes.

Diane Abbott has tabled an early day motion in support of Kazemi.

It is not sufficient to implement laws to protect oppressed groups without giving protection to asylum-seekers in the same groups from different countries."

EDM 1180

MEHDI KAZEMI AND THE TREATMENT OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN IRAN
12.03.2008
Abbott, Diane

That this House is concerned by the case of Iranian teenager Mehdi Kazemi who is currently living in Holland; notes reports that Mr Kazemi's boyfriend was forced by Iranian authorities to denounce other gay men, including Mr Kazemi himself; is appalled at reports that Mr Kazemi's boyfriend was then hanged for the offence of homosexuality; believes that Mr Kazemi's life is in serious danger if he were returned to Iran; further notes that the Dutch authorities have rejected Mr Kazemi's appeal for asylum in Holland and are likely to deport him to the UK; believes that the Home Office view that Iran is safe for homosexuals as long as they hide their sexuality is contrary to human rights standards on sexual freedom; and calls on the Government to uphold its asserted position as a supporter of human rights by refraining from sending Mr Kazemi back to Iran and near-certain human rights abuses.

News update

The Independent, who have spearheaded the UK press coverage, headline today: Victory for Kazemi as Home Secretary halts deportation to Iran

The Government's surprise intervention yesterday follows an international outcry.

Emma Ginn, of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns:

This is, finally, a good decision. There are many flaws in the UK's so-called 'fair and efficient' asylum determination process that others, not so fortunate to attract such global news coverage, are subjected to. The whole thing seems like not much more than a lottery.

The MP who has been leading for Madhi, Simon Hughes, said that arrangements are already in place for an urgent meeting with him, his family, specialist lawyers and Hughes to prepare a new application to the Home Office.

An MEP who helped get yesterday's European parliament resolution passed, Sarah Ludford, said:

It should have come voluntarily and without the need for so much pressure. But we must not forget other gay Iranians fearing for not only their liberty but their lives, such as Pegah Emambakhsh. They deserve justice, too.

Read about Pegah's case, she is planning to apply for a judicial review at the High Court. Pegah is one of at least another 29 other lesbian or gay refugees at risk of deportation from the UK to persecution.

PinkNews points out that there are many similar cases which are being overlooked by the government.

Quoting Peter Tatchell:

The review of this case is welcome, but there are still many more which need to be reconsidered, including Pegah Emambakhsh and many other individuals who are fleeing violently homophobic countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, Iraq, Zimbabwe and Palestine.

The underlying problem is the government's whole asylum system and the way it is rigged to fail as many applicants as possible, combined with the homophobic biases of the asylum process. Asylum staff and adjudicators are given no training on sexual orientation and there is no explicit official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The news about Madhi is reported in at least 300 media outlets around the world:

• New York Times International News brief
• CNN, which reminded viewers that

In a written statement earlier this month, Britain's Home Office said that even though homosexuality was illegal in Iran and homosexuals did experience discrimination, it did not believe that homosexuals were routinely persecuted purely on the basis of their sexuality

• International Herald Tribune
• Washington Post
  

The Times quotes Madhi's Dutch lawyer:

He is very much afraid of being allowed to stay in Britain but without being granted official permission. That would then put him in a no man’s land. He would be very unhappy in the long term.

And Madhi's uncle:

It has been a long time coming and a very long struggle. What I do not understand is why the Government got itself into this mess in the first place. It should always have recognised that gay people are killed for being themselves in Iran.

The Times also said that Madhi's case will be re-examined by Home Office officials who will base their decision on guidance issued last year — after his 2006 application was turned down.

It states: “Where an individual claimant demonstrates that their homosexual acts have brought them to the attention of the authorities to the extent that on return to Iran they will face a real risk of punishment, which will be so harsh as to amount to persecution, s/he should be granted refugee status as a member of a particular social group."

“In addition gay rights activists that have come to the attention of the authorities face a real risk of persecution and should be granted asylum as a result of their political opinion”.

And carries a scathing editorial, which notes:

As with other repressive regimes, Iran's criminalisation of homosexuality is often a convenient way of punishing political opponents.

The Government is not only right to provide refuge to Mr Kazemi, but is to be applauded for sending an unequivocal message to Tehran.

News update

Last night's BBC News 24 Report (also on News At Ten):

Following the ABC Nightly News Report, the story has now hit the right-wing blogosphere in the United States. Atlas Shrugs covers it this morning, using it as an anti-European left example:

This is where the head spins ... The left in America and Europe can't stop sucking Ahmadi-nijad, his rod and his staff.

And MTV, which will flow on to its affiliates around the world. Apart from the international gay media, it is also been reported in the past couple of days across America, in Fiji, India, France, South Africa, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany Australia, New Zealand — and Iran.

An American gay newspaper, Out In Jersey, has sent the following to Jacqui Smith:

It gives me nothing but pain to inform you that, in the event Mehdi is sent back to Iran, this publication will have no alternative but to call, loudly and frequently, for a boycott of travel to the United Kingdom. I cannot see how, in conscience, we can do otherwise.

The Independent reports that:

63 peers have signed a letter to the Home Secretary urging the Government to halt the deportation.

Among those pressing the Government to help Mr Kazemi are Lord Woolf, the former lord chief justice; Betty Boothroyd, the former speaker of the House of Commons; and Shirley Williams, Julia Neuberger, Paddy Ashdown, David Steel, Lord Lester QC and the Bishop of Liverpool, as well as a number of senior Labour peers.

It is understood that some government ministers privately support the peers' intervention, but for constitutional reasons are unable to put their names to the document.

The author of the letter, the LibDem peer and Methodist Minister, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, is seeking an urgent meeting with a Home Office minister.

Baroness Scott comments that:

Roger Roberts, was collecting signatures in the Lords yesterday petitioning for Mehdi to stay in the UK. Whilst I was only too pleased to add my name, I was disappointed, to say the least, not a single Conservative could be persuaded to do so.

Madhi's Uncle, Saeed, is also quoted by the Indie:

After losing his case he is so afraid now of what might happen to him. He is living a nightmare which no young man should ever have to experience. I have been told that there is an arrest warrant in his name issued by the Iranian government police. If he goes back, his life will be in danger. I urge Ms Smith to please reconsider his case.

As is Simon Hughes MP:

As Mehdi's British MP, and someone who has been supporting him and his family since December 2006, I am prepared for Mehdi's return to the UK. As soon as Mehdi is back in the UK, I will meet him and his family and make official representations through the proper channels, with the help of the best legal support. The Home Office has assured me that they will then reconsider Mehdi's case.

Independent Opinion piece by Phillip Henshaw: There is no logic to our treatment of Mehdi Kazemi

But we're not talking about thousands of potential asylum seekers, or a situation that hasn't taken shape yet. We are talking, unfortunately, about one tragic and terrifying case, and about one 19-year-old who we are seriously proposing to send back to Iran, where he may very well be executed.

Is it entirely impossible that Mr Kazemi's case has been dealt with by officials who regard a 19-year-old homosexual, and the state of homosexuality itself, with frank distaste? It seems more than likely.

Mr Kazemi is not, by now, a case or a precedent. He is a human being in a situation that we can thank God few of us will ever face.

Dutch Radio reports that:

The European Parliament is demanding that an Iranian homosexual, currently detained in an immigration centre in the Netherlands, receive protection.

European MPs are worried that Mr Kazemi will receive the death penalty if he is sent back to Iran. They say that he must not become the victim of European bureaucracy.

The Daily Mail covers Madhi today. It quotes the Dutch Democrat MP Boris van der Ham Kamervragen, who has taken up Kazemi's case. He has tabled questions in Parliament asking the junior minister for immigration, Nebahat Albayrak, to lobby British authorities on Kazemi's behalf.

There should be some political leadership. I hope in Britain they will do it and otherwise we should take the boy.

The Mail says that Madhi is not expected to be deported before Albayrak has answered Van der Ham's questions.

This is a sample comment on the story by a Daily Mail reader:

Would either country care to have the label 'murderer' hanging over their head?

George Galloway has defended the Iranian Government and made despicable remarks concerning Madhi. Speaking on the Channel 5 TV talk show The Wright Stuff this morning

TRANSCRIPT
GG: The Independent has a story about Peers calling upon the Home Secretary to halt the deportation of a gay Iranian. In part this is being used as part of the on-going propaganda against Iran. All the papers seem to imply that you get executed in Iran for being gay. That's not true.
MW: His boyfriend was hung though, wasn't he?
GG: Yes, but nor being gay. For uh, committing sex crimes, uh, against young men.
MW: Right...
GG: I mean, I'm against execution for any reason in any place, but it is important to avoid that propaganda.
MW: So you're saying that his guy they want to deport should be deported because there is no risk of his sexuality.. or he shouldn't be deported because there is at risk?
GG: He should not be deported not least because after all this Iranian propaganda he will be accused of being the source, or one of the sources. It would be ridiculous to deport him, and I don't think he will be deported now.

Video. Galloway is contactable here.

News update

CNN obtained the following from the Home Office today (my emphasis):

In a written statement, Britain's Home Office said that even though homosexuality is illegal in Iran and homosexuals do experience discrimination, it does not believe that homosexuals are routinely persecuted purely on the basis of their sexuality

This is the first time anyone has got them to actually state this.

Dutch radio: Netherlands Democratic MP Boris Ham has asked Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak to discuss the matter with the UK authorities to prevent Mr Kazemi being deported to Iran.

Interview by frictiontv with Omar Kuddus of the Uk gayasylum group about the Mehdi Kazemi case. This interview was conducted prior to the Dutch court's decision to return Mehdi to the UK.

Strong CNN story (link to video) today (thanks Alphonso) includes Mehdi's uncle, Simon Hughes and Peter Tatchell. It also quotes the Home Office policy.



From Saturday 8th, interview with Pegah Emambakhsh (NB: RealAudio, media may not be available for more than a week) and Lady Haleh Afshar on the Today Show (Radio 4).

Pegah transcript:

If the British government could prove to me that I would be safe in Iran and to be able to lead a normal life and to be myself I would be very happy to go back to Iran. I had to leave my old father, my ill mother and young sister. I have two lovely children which their father took away from me. i had to give this all up because my life was at risk. At the moment I was safe because I am in England but my life is very difficult. I miss my family and more than anything I am worried all the time that the police will suddenly arrest me and send me back.

Today said that the Home Office has agreed to accept new legal representation for her, despite her losing her last appeal in January.

The interviewer, Edward Stourton, asked if Iranians would pretend to be gay if Home Office policy changed. Haleh Afshar pointed out that there is an enormous social taboo against lesbians and gays.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said today that the organisation is "deeply disturbed" about his case.

"There is incontrovertible evidence that lesbian and gay people face danger in Iran and we will be raising this once again with the Home Secretary."

A question of ethics, editorial from newspaper of leading US university Rutgers.

FoxNews story.

British gay MEP Michael Cashman will raise Mehdi's case in the European Parliament later this week.

A Dutch newspaper today quotes Mehdi's Dutch lawyer B. Palm (sorry, Google translation) on what legal hopes there are:

A country may grant asylum even if someone has already made an application in another European country. The Netherlands has a different view on the situation of homosexuals in Iran than Britain. The rules assume that a person seeking asylum in any European country has an equal chance to get asylum. In this case this is not the case.

He hopes that Secretary for Justice Albayrak, who Aliens Office, the matter pull and ensure that Mehdi not returning to Iran.

She is also being lobbied by Dutch MP Boris van der Ham Kamervragen.

Writing in The Irish Times, Quentin Fottrell expresses concern that

The British government isn't the only one tightening the screws on the asylum process of late: our own is keen to clear a backlog of 9,427 asylum applications it has racked up since 2000 . . . one way or another. And, because, where the UK leads on asylum/immigration issues, we invariably follow.

Ireland doesn't give numbers on gay refugee cases, and many are unlikely to declare their sexuality for fear of being "outed" and having to go back if their case is refused, like Kazemi. On that basis, Muslims from brutal regimes are unlikely to make a "study" of gay refugee cases. It would be too hazardous if they failed. Many more have hidden their sexuality their whole life and they choose other reasons for seeking asylum.

On the upside, one Irish lawyer told me he has successfully processed 30 cases of gay refugees, helped by the fact that the 1996 Refugee Act and the new Bill cite sexual orientation under "social group" as a basis for seeking asylum. Dublin-based gay teenage group Belong2 have also worked with several gay teenage refugees. Their two most recent cases - from Albania and Kenya - are now studying in college.

However, direct provision centre staff need more intercultural training, especially on bullying. I've heard of three cases, one of a gay Romanian man who left his accommodation in Cork due to harassment, a Kenyan man in Dublin ostracised because he was damned if he was going to deny his sexuality after everything he had been through, and a Kenyan lesbian in accommodation who hides her sexuality to survive.

News update

Simon Hughes writes in The Independent of his involvement with Mehdi's case:

This young Iranian lived in Rotherhithe with his family when he first came to the UK and he and his family have kept in touch with me ever since.

The Indie has also followed up yesterday's front page with a Leader titled 'Squalid priorities':

It is surely apparent to anyone who looks at the case history of Mr Kazemi and Ms Emambakhsh, that they face a real risk of persecution if they are deported. Only a government that has put internal political concerns before its international duty to shield those in genuine fear of their lives would be trying to return them to Iran.

Sadly, it seems that is exactly the squalid order of priorities our own Government has adopted.

What's interesting in reviewing board comment is the level of positive agreement. I honestly think that if the Government has the notion that most people would support them on this they're wrong — even with the anti-asylum climate people commenting seem to agree that knowingly sending people to possible execution is not a 'British value'.

The Indie has also covered Pegah Emambakhsh's case. Iranian gay rights groups have reported that her partner is in custody under sentence of death by stoning, nevertheless her latest appeal has been turned down. The article includes the news that more than 60 MEPs have signed a petition asking Gordon Brown to reverse the decision on Mehdi.

The Guardian's Hugh Muir gives Terry Evans a shout in his diary but applauds the East Midlands Tory who replied to him:

Thank God someone has been brave enough to say it. Enough of the bleeding hearts.

What the heck bravery has to do with it I don't know. To this line I would say, would you do it yourself Hugh? Watch a video of the results of these actions - torture, whipping and slow strangulation? Let's see if your heart doesn't 'bleed' then. This is not a 'British value'.

A Press Association story has been used in other newspapers, including by The Daily Express. Nothing by the BBC yet.

Press release by Green MEP Jean Lambert.

International Herald Tribune article includes the following:

Rene van Soeren of the Dutch gay rights group, COC, "if he had only applied in Holland his case would be over and he would be granted a residence permit without a hesitation."

Brief coverage on CNN

This includes a quote by US State Department Spokesman Tom Casey:

I am tempted to note that in his remarks at Columbia University, President Ahmadinejad asserted that they were no gays in Iran. Maybe he meant that he's kicked them all out of the country.

Simon Hughes Joins IDAHO Asylum Protest Outside Home Office

 

Peter Tatchell (left), Derek Lennard, Simon Hughes MP, and Ali Hili outside the Home Office in London today at the IDAHO protest. (photo courtesy Outrage!)

Source: UK Gay News

Liberal Democrat President and Shadow Attorney General, Simon Hughes MP, joined today’s protest outside the Home Office in London in support of gay asylum seekers who have fled homophobic persecution in countries like Pakistan, Uganda, Sudan, Cameroon, Jamaica, Iran, Belarus, Algeria, Iraq, Nigeria and Egypt.

The protest was the main UK event to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), 17 May, which is being observed in 50 countries worldwide.

Mr Hughes told the protesters in London that IDAHO was a “very important” initiative to challenge global homophobia.  e criticised the Home Office’s handling of gay and lesbian asylum claims.

“The Refugee Convention does not specifically mention sexuality and therefore we have to make a case to the Home Office for the granting of refugee status on the grounds of sexual orientation.

“I want the Home Office to endorse the idea that lesbians and gay men are a legitimate social group at risk of persecution in many countries.

“It is a shame that 70 years after the Nazi persecution of gay people, there is still no proper recognition of those persecuted on the basis of their sexuality,” said Mr Hughes.

Mr Hughes pledged to work with gay campaigners to raise with the Home Office the mistreatment of lesbian and gay asylum applicants, and to help remedy the Home Office’s five failings on gay asylum that were highlighted by today’s protest:

■  No training on sexual orientation issues for asylum staff and adjudicators

■  No official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation

■  No action to stamp out the abuse of gay refugees in UK asylum detention camps

■  No accurate, up-to-date information on the victimisation of gay people in violently homophobic countries

■  No adequate access to proper legal representation for gay asylum applicants

Another speaker at the London IDAHO protest was gay Iraqi refugee, Ali Hili, who is the OutRage! Middle East Affairs spokesman and the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT UK, a group of gay Iraqi exiles who are setting up an underground gay rights network inside Iraq.

“The Home office must address the plight of gay Iraqi refugees who are fleeing rising levels of fundamentalist-inspired homophobic violence,” Mr. Hili said.  “These murders of gay people are perpetrated by the Shia militias of the Badr and Sadr factions, as well as by men in Iraqi police uniforms.”

“Since the Iraqi government is failing to protect its gay citizens, the Home Office has a duty to be more sympathetic to the plight of gay Iraqi asylum applicants,” Mr Hili commented.

Derek Lennard of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association, who is the UK coordinator of IDAHO, added: “On this International Day Against Homophobia, we express support for gay people in other countries who are suffering arrest, imprisonment, torture, rape and murder.

“We call on the UK government to offer refuge to the victims of homophobic persecution, “ he said.

Research by OutRage!, based on its work with lesbian and gay asylum claimants, shows that the Home Office is failing gay asylum seekers.

“The Home Office does not explicitly accept persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation as a legitimate basis for gaining asylum,” said Brett Lock of OutRage!, who is currently documenting a major expose of homophobic bias in the asylum system.

“Low legal aid funding means most gay asylum applicants fail because they have sub-standard representation at their asylum hearings.  The Home Office information on homophobic persecution around the globe is poorly researched and often downplays the true scale of anti-gay victimisation.

“No wonder so many gay asylum applicants are deemed to have failed and are scheduled for deportation.

“The shocking stories of homophobic abuse and inhumane conditions inside the UK's asylum detention centres are a national scandal,” said Mr Lock.