Iran. Gay. Muslim. Asylum. Four words which when put together can
cause any politician, real or aspirant, to find themselves in big
trouble. So I choose my words very carefully. I have been following
the case of 19 year old Iranian student Mehdi Kazemi very
carefully. He came to Britain to study. He is gay. He discovered
while here that his former boyfriend had been arrested in Iran, charged
and hanged for being gay. Somewhat odd really since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured students in Washington last year that there was no
homosexuality in Iran! Fearing for his life should he return to Iran he
has claimed asylum here in Britain. He was turned down. Having now
failed in the Netherlands he is to be returned to Britain before being
"removed" to Iran and almost certain torture and death for the "crime"
of being gay. The Times has a good summary of the case HERE.
This, to me, is an open and shut case. Mehdi, who came here to learn, should be allowed to stay in Britain. We cannot on the one hand claim to abhor the treatment of certain people by the Iranian regime and on the other send a young man to his certain death. I hope that our leadership will speak up for this young man. Look at the picture. Thats what we, if we don't let him stay, are condemning this young man to.
