Mehdi Kazemi granted asylum

On Monday Mehdi Kazemi, the Iranian gay teenager threatened with deportation back to Iran (where his boyfriend was executed) was granted unconditional asylum in the United Kingdom.

This is clearly excellent news for all of those solidarity activists who campaigned against his deportation and against racist and homophobic immigration laws. It is a slap in the face to the homophobic Iranian regime.

Unfortunately, the government has not taken any broader stance in favour of the right to asylum for persecuted LGBT people. Commenting on Mehdi's case the Home Office stated "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".

We will continue to fight against all deportations and in favour of the right to asylum.

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An Injury to One is an Injury to All – Stop the Deportation of Mohammad Hussain

Many of you will know Mohammad Hussain from Doncaster. He is a big man with a big heart. Mohammad was one of the organisers and stewards on the 3 Day Dignity Not Detention march last October.The march ended with a protest outside Lindholme detention centre. Now Mohammad is inside Lindholme. He is threatened with deportation to Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan this Wednesday 14th May from Heathrow Airport at 17.05.

Mohammad has stated that, if he is deported to Iraqi Kurdistan, “my life would be in serious danger”. He left Iraqi Kurdistan in 1999 because of threats made against him by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). The KDP and its security apparatus now controls much of Iraqi Kurdistan and runs the city of Irbil – the proposed location for Mohammad’s deportation.

Since this time, persecution of political opponents of the KDP has increased, according to reports from Amnesty International, the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees and the UNHCR.

There is ample evidence that political opponents of the Kurdish Democratic Party have faced ill-treatment, imprisonment and grievous violence from the party’s security service upon their forced return to KDP-controlled Irbil. Following the forced deportation of 60 Iraqi Kurds from the UK to Irbil in February 2008 the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees reported that guards from the Kurdish Regional Government “knew nothing of human rights”.

Mr Hussain’s deportation would not just be a grave threat to his life. It would be a loss to Doncaster and South Yorkshire. Apart from Mohammad’s role in South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) and his active defence of other Iraqi Kurds threatened with deportation, he has played an important role in community life in Doncaster. He is Treasurer of the Doncaster Focus Group (a co-ordinating group of refugee and migrant volunteers), an active volunteer with the Northern Refugee Centre and one of the best known and loved members of the Kurdish community in South Yorkshire.

What You Can Do to Help

1.Send urgent faxes/emails immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Mohammad Hussain be granted protection in the UK. Model letter to Secretary of State is attached or you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref H1028720).

Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)

Email Jacqui Smith: smithjj@parliament.uk

Write to Jacqui Smith: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Buildings, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

2. Send urgent faxes/emails immediately to Rosie Winterton MP for Doncaster Central Constituency. Model letter to Secretary of State is attached or you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref H1028720).

Parliamentary Office:
Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Tel. 0207 219 0925
Fax: 0207 219 2811

Constituency office:
Room 9
The Trades and Labour Club
115 St Sepulchre Gate West
Doncaster
DN1 3AH
Tel: 01302 326297
Fax: 01302 342921
Email: wintertonr@parliament.uk

Please notify the campaign of any faxes/emails sent to Jacqui Smith or Rosie Winterton at dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk or 07969 156 082

3. Copy and distribute the campaign leaflet for Mohammad: see attachment. Contact Graeme Huston, the editor of Doncaster Free Press: graeme.huston@doncastertoday.co.uk or Telephone : 01302 819111 or Fax : 01302 348523. Contact the Doncaster Star newspaper: Star Newsdesk News Editor, Telephone : 0114 276 7676 or email: starnews@sheffieldnewspapers.co.uk

Stuart Crosthwaite, SYMAAG Secretary

Contact the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) at dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk

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Action to defend Mehdi Kazemi March 22nd

On Saturday March 22nd at 2pm Middle East Workers' Solidarity will be staging a protest opposite Downing Street in defence of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian asylum seeker who the British government plans to send back to Iran on the grounds that if gay Iranians are "discreet about their sexuality", they will not get in trouble.

In fact, Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend in Iran has already been executed for being gay, and the regime knows about Mehdi Kazemi and will likely kill him if he returns. We are demonstrating to demand that he should not be sent to his death in Iran, and that he should be allowed to stay in Britain if he so chooses.

Saturday March 22nd, 2pm, Downing Street. Nearest tube Westminster/Charing Cross

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Mehdi must stay – No deportations to Iran

Peter Tatchell speaks out in defence of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi

Gay Iranian asylum applicant Mehdi Kazemi is in detention in the Netherlands. He is fighting attempts by the Dutch government to return him to the UK.

Mehdi fled Britain and sought asylum in the Netherlands because the British government wants to deport him back to Iran. The gay human rights group OutRage! campaigns on asylum issues and supports Mehdi Kazemi’s claim for refugee status. OutRage! spokesperson Peter Tatchell said

"The Home Office decision to deport Mehdi back to Iran is shameful and reckless. If returned to Tehran, he will be at risk of imprisonment, torture and execution. Gay men in Iran are hanged from public cranes using the barbaric method of slow strangulation, which is deliberately designed to cause maximum suffering. This deportation order borders on a criminal decision. It violates the government's legal obligations under the Refugee Convention. The Home Office country report on Iran ignores the true scale of homophobic repression, in order to justify the deportation of lesbian and gay Iranians. I have been tipped off by a senior Home Office official that government orders are to cut asylum numbers at almost any price. Staff are encouraged to assume that all asylum applicants are bogus and to play down the merits of individual cases, such as Medhi’s".

Background

Here is the Everyone organisation’s link about Medhi's case. Please scroll down to read Mehdi’s own statement, as given to the Iranian Queer Rights Organisation:

Need to reform the handling of LGBT asylum claims

“The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP, must urgently remedy her department's five failings with regard to the treatment of LGBT asylum claimants,” added Mr Tatchell.

“Currently, the Home Office stands accused of:

- No training on sexual orientation issues for asylum staff and adjudicators
- No explicit official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation
- No action to stamp out the abuse of LGBT refugees in UK asylum detention camps
- No accurate, up-to-date information on the victimisation of LGBT people in violently homophobic countries
- No access to adequate legal representation for LGBT asylum applicants

“These are systemic failings by a callous and indifferent government that is more interested in cutting asylum numbers than in ensuring a fair, just and compassionate asylum system,” concluded Mr Tatchell.

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