Mehdi Kazemi

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Mehdi Kazemi (born 1989) is a 19 year old gay Iranian who is currently wanted in Iran for sodomy. Originally in the UK to study, he has recently been granted asylum by Britain.

1 Background
2 Asylum case
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Background

Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the legal code has been based on a conservative interpretation of Islamic Shari'a law. All sexual relations that occur outside of a traditional, heterosexual marriage (i.e. sodomy or adultery) are illegal and no legal distinction is made between consensual or non-consensual sexual activity. Homosexual relations that occur between consenting adults in private are a crime and carry a maximum punishment of death. Approved in 1991, articles 108 through 140 talk about homosexuality and its punishments in detail.^[1] As of December 6, 2007, Iran was continuing its policy of executing homosexuals, having carried out the execution of Makwan Mouloudzadeh for engaging in anal intercourse at the age of 13, in spite of the fact that all witnesses had retracted their accusations.^[2] Despite international outcry and a nullification of the death sentence by Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrud, Mr. Mouloudzadeh was hanged without his family or his attorney being informed until after the fact.^[3]

[edit] Asylum case

Kazemi had arrived in the UK on a student visa in 2004. Whilst he was attending university there, his boyfriend was arrested back in Iran, charged with sodomy, interrogated and hanged in April 2006. During interrogation his boyfriend gave up Kazemi’s name and Iranian authorities are now looking for him. Fearing for his life if he would return to Iran, Kazemi applied for aslyum in the UK; however, his case was refused by the Home Office.

Kazemi fled to the Netherlands to apply for political asylum, but was refused in accordance with the 2003 Dublin Convention which prevents application for asylum in more than one EU country. Kazemi is now being held in a detention centre awaiting return to the UK. If returned to the UK, Kazemi faces deportation to Iran. If returned to Iran he will be at risk of imprisonment, torture and execution. After a sustained campaign by several supporters, including Middle East Workers' Solidarity and Peter Tatchell, Home secretary Jacqui Smith has now agreed to review his case when he returns to the UK.^[4]. He was refused asylum in the Netherlands^[5] and returned to the UK April 4, 2008.^[6].

On March 22nd Middle East Workers' Solidarity [1] and National Union of Students staged a protest opposite Downing Street in defence of Kazemi. Several LGBT student organisations also attended in their own right, including the Manchester, Bradford, and Leeds University LGBT Societies. The demonstration demanded 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.

On May 20th, it was confirmed that Kazemi's case for asylum had been accepted by Britain. ^[7]

[edit] See also

Controversies surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "... in Iran we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who told you that we have it."
LGBT rights in Iran
Homosexuality and Islam