England to deport gay Iranian to be hung

Mehdi Kazemi is a gay teenager from Iran. He sought sanctuary in Britain after his boyfriend was hanged for homosexuality. So why is Britain so determined to send him back to Tehran – to almost certain execution?

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Why wouldn't the UK protect him from certain death??

Same goes for an Iranian Lesbian...
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[beckyg]

This is horrible. I hate reading this stuff.

[Tim]

This is horrible, it's like Britain's treating them like they did a horrible crime like murder, I'm just speechless :/

They should atleast be sent to another country where they won't face persecution =/

[heatqueen]

Of all countries I thought Britain was tolerant of this kind of thing. It's so sad that this is happening.

Originally Posted by heatqueen

Of all countries I thought Britain was tolerant of this kind of thing. It's so sad that this is happening.

We are tolerant, its just the british decide to be bastards on illegal immigrants at all the wrong times =/

[heatqueen]

But that's completely contradictory!!

[Tim]

Originally Posted by ThatCrazyThang

We are tolerant, its just the british decide to be bastards on illegal immigrants at all the wrong times =/

That sentence is an oxymoron...

Anyways, like I said, speechless about this >_<

Originally Posted by heatqueen

But that's completely contradictory!!

That we are tolerant of our own gay british citizens but not illegal immigrants? Just because their gay doesn't change the fact that they went into the country illegally. Although this is a situation where they should be allowed temporary refuge until something can be done to keep their life from jeopardy. I don't think anything I said was contradictory?

[CrimsonThunder]

it was only contradictory on the stipulations, other than that it wasnt.

Well Living in England, there are alot of stories about The government letting some immigrants staying or not doing anything about them and then other times (usually controversial) like this when this guy's being sent away.

[Paul_UK]

The case seems to be a complicated one that misses the systems designed to protect people in his position.


1. To claim asylum one should do so at the FIRST safe country after leaving where they are in danger, not come all the way across Europe to the UK to do so (a lot of people were doing this before the legislation was changed).

2. Mehdi was already in the UK studying and hadn't claimed asylum anywhere because he had no need to.

3. If the political situation is his homeland had changed while he was out of the country, making it unsafe for him to return, then he could claim asylum in whichever country he is already in.

4. In this case though the political situation has not changed, nor has anything about Mehdi. The only thing that has changed is that Mehdi's sexuality is now known about in his homeland, which is what puts him in serious danger there.

For whatever reason that I fail to understand, this is not considered sufficient grounds for him to remain in the UK. The normal system does not protect him, however it is a special case and I am very disappointed that a direct appeal to the Home Secretary has not allowed this to be regarded as a special case.

Hopefully the publicity in the Independent will embarrass the Home Secretary sufficiently to look further into this case.

It is likely that the Home Secretary receives dozens of appeals for all sorts of reasons every day, most of them probably fictious. So a genuine appeal like this ends up being regarded the same as the rest.

No, I am not defending the UK position at all. I disagree with it as much as everyone else in this thread. I am just trying to clarify how it has come about.

[Paul_UK]

Originally Posted by ThatCrazyThang

Well Living in England, there are alot of stories about The government letting some immigrants staying or not doing anything about them and then other times (usually controversial) like this when this guy's being sent away.

Our immigration policy and the way it is handled is a mess. We started out letting loads of people in who had no real reason to be here, this led to complaints by the public and the media, so now we seem to have closed the doors to almost everyone.

[heatqueen]

Ok this whole contradictory thing is confusing me. I'm just gonna go by the 'Gay person deported; not good' thing. *head spins*

[Paul_UK]

Originally Posted by heatqueen

I'm just gonna go by the 'Gay person deported; not good' thing.

Yep, gay person deported to probable death, from a country that legalised gay marriages. It makes no sense.

The only difference..... it's gay British nationals that get the gay marriages and gay foreigners that get deported.

[divadarya]

OK...my own country treats GLBT people as second class, but the only people who are calling for the death penalty for Homosexuality are crazies like Phred Phelch(oops..Phelps).
Iran is a sophisticated, civilized country with a rich cultural history that has been hijacked by religious fanatics; in other words they put the most superstitious and ignorant people in positions of power. It would be like electing Fred Phelps President.
There also seems to be a serious double standard about homosexuality(at least among males) in Islam, like there is in all the related desert superstitions we worship...
I'm angry.

[neverover]

i really dont get this moslem laws (i forgot its name, but it punish thief by cutting his hand, and murderer by hanging his head). and in this situation, killing homosexuality. that is just so wrong. killing is a very big crime, and Quran forbid it. IMO, theyre not religious fanatic, theyre MORONS. same goes for terorist. unfortunately, there r some of them here, in indonesia

Originally Posted by divadarya

OK...my own country treats GLBT people as second class, but the only people who are calling for the death penalty for Homosexuality are crazies like Phred Phelch(oops..Phelps).
Iran is a sophisticated, civilized country with a rich cultural history that has been hijacked by religious fanatics; in other words they put the most superstitious and ignorant people in positions of power. It would be like electing Fred Phelps President.
There also seems to be a serious double standard about homosexuality(at least among males) in Islam, like there is in all the related desert superstitions we worship...
I'm angry.

EXACTLY,
in islam if you are religious then you are right about EVERYTHING so in their logic you have to be religious to be in big positions,
fortunetly this is not happening in kuwait but still you have to be atleast muslim to get any ruling position but since like 99% of the kuwaiti population
are muslim we never faced that problem.

Originally Posted by neverover

i really dont get this muslim laws (i forgot its name, but it punish thief by cutting his hand, and murderer by hanging his head). and in this situation, killing homosexuality. that is just so wrong. killing is a very big crime, and Quran forbid it. IMO, theyre not religious fanatic, theyre MORONS. same goes for terorist. unfortunately, there r some of them here, in indonesia

the Quran asks us to kill any muslim that rebels from islam, homosexuals, infidels that have attacked islam, murders.
Killing is a very big crime but Quran says its okay if its the name of Islam.

Originally Posted by Whitesand

EXACTLY,
in islam if you are religious then you are right about EVERYTHING so in their logic you have to be religious to be in big positions,
fortunetly this is not happening in kuwait but still you have to be atleast muslim to get any ruling position but since like 99% of the kuwaiti population
are muslim we never faced that problem.

the Quran asks us to kill any muslim that rebels from islam, homosexuals, infidels that have attacked islam, murders.
Killing is a very big crime but Quran says its okay if its the name of Islam.

I find that to be a very thin line. Really, Im sure you could claim to kill anyone 'in the name of islam' =/....

I find

[jroakwood]

honestly, this probably sounds bad.
but he's an illegal immigrant, and he got caught, why should they make an exception for him because he's gay?
i understand he is going to die, but the UK cant keep him because couldnt that cause tension between the two countries?

does anyone remember the time we kept that cuban kid for so long in the US and it was such a big deal?

i understand that its bad for the Iranian government to kill him for his sexuality, but it shouldnt be the UK's fault that he came there illegally. theyre just doing what they would normally do with illegal immigrants.