Gay Iranian Teen Denied Asylum
13 March 2008 by Karen
First England denied him, now the Netherlands.
Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian teenager fighting to stay in Europe after his boyfriend was reportedly executed in Iran, has lost a plea for asylum in the Netherlands and will be sent back to Britain, where he could face deportation to Iran, the teen’s uncle told ABC News.
…snip…
Kazemi, 19, came to Britain to study in 2005. He has said he intended to return to his country until he learned that his boyfriend in Tehran, whom he had been dating secretly since he was 15 years old, had been arrested for sodomy and hanged, according to Kazemi’s lawyer.Kazemi appealed for asylum in Britain, writing in a letter accompanying his request, “I wish to inform secretary of state that I did not come to the U.K. to claim asylum. But in the past few months my situation back home has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me.”
…snip…
A British court denied Kazemi’s request in 2006 on the grounds that Iran does not systematically persecute homosexuals.Kazemi, terrified that he would be handed over to Iranian authorities after his application in Britain was denied, fled to the Netherlands. For the past few weeks, he was being held in detention there while a Dutch court decided whether he should be sent back to the U.K.
Unlike Britain, the Netherlands has a special law guaranteeing Iranian homosexuals are not sent back to Iran. But under the terms of a special European Union treaty, refugees are only allowed to request asylum in one EU member country.
Under the ruling, which said the Netherlands had no jurisdiction after Britain had already reviewed the request, Kazemi could be sent back to Britain before the end of the week, Palm told ABC News.
So the Dutch say their hands are tied, because one EU nation has already denied asylum, and the Brits are saying, “Oh, we don’t really think they’ll KILL you if we send you back to Iran…that’s all blown out of proportion.” But if Mehdi Kazemi steps on Iranian soil, he may as well be stepping on a trap door with a noose already around his neck.
I’m going to put my bleeding heart out there for all to see, and hope some of you will join me in raising a collective voice for Mehdi Kazemi. I’ve sent emails to the Dutch Foreign Affairs Office asking for mercy on Kazemi’s behalf. There’s also an online petition that’s going to the British government, since Mehdi is set to be sent back to England soon. We are often outraged at the savagery committed in Muslim countries, but are seldom able to do anything. Let the British and Dutch officials know that the world is aware and watching how they handle this situation. We may not change a thing, but we won’t know if we don’t try.
13 March 2008, on 3:19 am
The link to the online petition is broke, extra http// in there
But I signed it, these wacky fundies need to be kept far away from this fellow. Have they confirmed that his boyfriend was hanged?
13 March 2008, on 4:26 am
Hi
a website has now been set up to support Madhi’s case
http://www.madhikazemi.com/
cheers
13 March 2008, on 5:19 am
Considering all the riff-raff we let in every day (legally or otherwise), I don’t see why we shouldn’t let this poor guy in. He’s just lost his boyfriend to a homophobic theocratic regime, and our government wants to send him back to that place?
Disgraceful.
What’s this rubbish about “Iran doesn’t systematically persecute homosexuals”? If being homosexual is a capital crime there, I’d say that was pretty systematic, wouldn’t you?
Some days, I’m just not proud to be British
13 March 2008, on 6:59 am
Couldn’t another western country allow him to come in and grant him asylum? How does that work? Seems like any country could intervene somehow.
As for Iran not systematically persecuting homosexuals, just as these guys. Apostates of Islam.
13 March 2008, on 11:19 am
Absolutely outrageous!
More lunatic Islamic religious…fuckhead Allah shit…”poisoning everything”!
Fuck all religions and their insane, totally delusional bullshit!
Having followed, somewhat, the mamby-bamby, bend over backwards, ass-kissing treatment by some of Britain’s prominent Xtian clergy, solely because Muslims are another stupid version of Sky Daddy belief, brings to mind the absolute danger to all secular democracies from cowtowing to these freedom haters.
In other words…GET REAL!
There’s a real danger in the USA, as well, from the ever growing number of immigrant Muslims, albeit…so-far…a quiet minority, who have the ultimate, long term, agenda to eventually take over democratic governments by ANY means, in order to institute their insane Sharia laws. This is tantamount, of course, to anarchy.
The danger in Britain is already blatantly apparent. Obviously, those ‘native-born’ in whatever democracy presents a whole other ‘kettle of fish’ problem.
I say, wake up and smell the coffee, folks; even if it means sending these democracy hating extremists back to where they came from. I partially blame the media for being such wimps about the whole subject of religion. Of course, the reason is that so many in the media are chicken-shit, Sky-daddy-kissing delusionals themselves.
It’s just another important reason for us atheists to “STAND UP” and NOT shut up about the dangers inherent in all religions. Ultimately, the only real hope lies, I think, in the younger generation having a ‘waking up’…nouveau enlightenment…en masse.
Yeah…AARGH!
13 March 2008, on 11:43 am
There’s a real danger in the USA, as well, from the ever growing number of immigrant Muslims, albeit…so-far…a quiet minority, who have the ultimate, long term, agenda to eventually take over democratic governments by ANY means, in order to institute their insane Sharia laws.
And this is not just paranoia on our part, if you go to any website of Islamic fundamentalist schools, and even moderate ones, this “Goal” is stated clearly in their mission statements. Just like Christian fundamentalists are doing their best to infiltrate our government via elected officials, muslims are following suit. Then the irony is that they are taking advantage of our system and our encouragement of diversity. In our system our laws protect against discrimination, and we do not want to discriminate. However, we are sort of caught between a rock and a hard place because by our own standards we must protect the rights of those who wish to take over and oppress us.
Then as in the situation of this young man, appeasing our enemies in the name of tolerance (or not wanting to offend our enemies) hands him back to the intolerant bigot government of his homeland to most likely a gruesome ending for him.
What is that Sean used to say…”stop the planet I wanna get off?”
13 March 2008, on 11:56 am
Another soon-to-be hanging in the name of Gayllah. Nicve, what can I say.
Some people are crazy, and some others don’t quite think so.
Petition signed, by the way. And if that thing saves the guy’s life, I’ll be happy enough. I’m not fond of homosexuals, but they’re human beings after all (unlike those which enforce 2000-year-old death laws, which seem to have lost this precious human attribute called “humanity”)
13 March 2008, on 12:21 pm
Richard Wolford
I’m sorry about the link trouble; they were all working when I posted the story last night. And the link works for me now. Perhaps Stardust worked her magic?
paul canning
Thanks for the website link. There is more to the story there than was available when I was working on the post. I sent email to the addresses listed there also.
13 March 2008, on 12:25 pm
Why not let him come to the States where he could be a functioning member of the Homosexual Agenda, which is, apparently, out to have anal sex in front of good christian families sitting down to their wholesome meal of Hamburger Helper, thereby gayifying* the youngsters and depriving the godbothering parents of the right to crow about granchildren
*-the anal sex, I mean, gayness being only a some time side effect of prolonged exposure to Hamburger Helper, along with a fear of white gloves and an obsession with gourmet meals made from scratch.
Seriously, couldn’t GLAAD or some other organization sponsor Mehdi’s immigration here to claim political asylum? Then again, he’s probably lying because Ahmadinejackass said there were no homosexuals in Iran…
13 March 2008, on 12:29 pm
It would be great to help save this guy’s life, but what about all the others we never hear about? We keep hearing people talk about how dangerous Iran is because they might be seeking to develop nuclear weapons but yet they are killing people right now over insane crap like this and our “leaders” could give a flying fuck about it. And apparently so could the Europeans. What type of rules allow people to be sent back to a country where they are likely to be killed for something that is not a crime? This sort of stuff makes me sad to be part of the human race.
We need to start taking a harder line with these assholes. I’m not talking military action. How about international sanctions? How about getting the UN and Red Cross involved? How about offering amnesty and aid to people who want to leave these theocratic shitholes? How about setting a good example for the rest of the world and giving gays the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else in this country?
13 March 2008, on 12:29 pm
I’m not fond of homosexuals, but they’re human beings after all
I appreciate your honesty, but WTF does that mean?
13 March 2008, on 1:42 pm
I appreciate your honesty, but WTF does that mean?
It means that he’s not particularly fond of human beings, so he’s explaining his dislike in terms of his larger phobia. Sort of like me saying, “I don’t like trout, but it is fish after all.”
Or maybe I’m just being Pollyannaish.
13 March 2008, on 1:43 pm
Update
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7294908.stm
Jacqui Smith’s email address is at the website offered by paul canning.
13 March 2008, on 2:03 pm
Petition signed, message spread. Thank you for getting this out there.
13 March 2008, on 4:03 pm
[...] Alert via God is for Suckers! [...]
13 March 2008, on 6:47 pm
Medhi Kahzemi should definitely not come to Oklahoma where Rep. Sally Kern spreads her Christian love towards gays. Sally Kern needs to be deported to Iran. She’d be happier there…more idiocy from the Bible-gropers:
http://tinyurl.com/2ryqvx
14 March 2008, on 5:28 am
Hey now, that was just mean.
I mean this: I don’t “like” them (homosexuals), but I don’t “hate” them either. And since I don’t “hate” them, if one is about to be killed just because he is a homosexual, that I consider to be extremely sick and inhuman, and equivalent to any other murder.
As I said in my original post: I signed the petition, and if this saves the guy’s life, then I’m happy enough.
PS: You are right, you were Pollyannish
14 March 2008, on 11:00 am
I mean this: I don’t “like” them (homosexuals), but I don’t “hate” them either.
I guess there is a subtle difference, huh? Reminds me of the old Christian favorite “Love the sinner, hate the sin”. Of course, I’ve always thought that it was complete bullshit.
14 March 2008, on 11:54 am
Medhi Kahzemi should definitely not come to Oklahoma where Rep. Sally Kern spreads her Christian love towards gays. Sally Kern needs to be deported to Iran. She’d be happier there…more idiocy from the Bible-gropers:
Barbie, I listened to the video till I could listen no more. Christian Taliban is all I can say in response to that. Usually when we travel we make sure we drive completely around Oklahoma. How do you stand living there?
14 March 2008, on 6:30 pm
Stardust, I live on the border so I cross into TX…not much of a difference. I grew up in Brooklyn,NY and Mexico City so this is a complete and utter culture shock for me! LOL!
14 March 2008, on 6:47 pm
Barbie, I know what you mean. ^^ I was born and raised in Chicago, then when I got married my husband and I lived in Little Rock, Arkansas for our first two years of marriage. Culture shock is right! Everything closed down on Sundays, and the Jeebus Sheeple were everywhere. We were still Xians at the time, but I was Lutheran and hubby Presbyterian though we didn’t go to church. Had fundies inviting us to the churches of “true Xians” and having to repeatedly politely decline.
I was so glad to move back up to Chicagoland I could have kissed the ground.
15 March 2008, on 9:36 am
There’s a real danger in the USA, as well, from the ever growing number of immigrant Muslims, albeit…so-far…a quiet minority, who have the ultimate, long term, agenda to eventually take over democratic governments by ANY means, in order to institute their insane Sharia laws. This is tantamount, of course, to anarchy.
The danger in Britain is already blatantly apparent.
Exactly. I’m wondering if allowing this guy asylum in Britain is even gonna spare his life. There are enough muslims living in Britain, that one of them will surely get to him. Theo Van Gogh was killed in broad daylight on a street in Amsterdam, by a fucking muslim. What’s to stop some psycho muslim living in Britian from killing this guy for being gay.
His days are numbered regardless, I’m afraid. Muslims are evil assholes.
17 March 2008, on 6:25 pm
Marcy: Muslims are evil assholes.
And like most other religious types, especially those belonging to the monotheistic faiths, hugely hypocritical. Anal sex wasn’t sometimes referred to as the “Turkish way” in Europe for nothing in the past, and Napoleon’s soldiers in Egypt soon learned not to fall into the hands of the local (Muslim) bandits and tribesmen if they didn’t want to be sodomized, a frequent treatment of prisoners…
21 May 2008, on 9:33 am
[...] Update: Gay Iranian wins deportation battle By Stardust We originally wrote about this story here. [...]