Author: Agencies
Publication: The Times of India
Date: March 12, 2008
A gay teenager who possibly faces being hanged
if sent back to Iran is a step closer to being forced to returning, after
the Netherlands followed Britain in refusing his appeal for asylum.
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study
English in 2005 but says he later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested
by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.
He claimed asylum in Britain, saying that
he feared for his life if he returned. However, his case was refused late
last year, so he fled to the Netherlands.
A Dutch court today, however, ordered him
to return to Britain, leaving the teenager once again facing deportation.
According to Iranian human rights campaigners, more than 4,000 gay men and
lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.
Borg Palm, Kazemi's lawyer, said on Tuesday
that the Dutch court had ruled he could only claim asylum in the UK-but that
it was not "totally sure" he would be forced to return to Britain
immediately as a European court could temporarily halt the move.
"The case was about whether he should be sent to Britain or not-which
country was responsible for his asylum case," he told Sky News.
"The highest administrative court in
Holland decided that the IND, the equivalent of the UK Home Office, was right
to say that England is responsible."
Kazemi says he was forced to claim asylum
after being told by his father in Teheran that his boyfriend had been questioned
about his sexual relationships before his execution in April 2006 and named
him under interrogation. A Home Office spokeswoman told the Times the government
did not comment on individual cases, but added: "The UK Government is
committed to providing protection for those individuals found to be genuinely
in need, in accordance with our commitments under international law."
