Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP has welcomed the decision by the Home Office to grant asylum to the gay Iranian teenager Mehdi Kazemi.
Mr Kazemi arrived in the UK in 2004 to study. He later found out that his partner Parham had been arrested in Iran and had been forced to identify Mehdi as someone with whom he’d had a relationship. In April 2006, Mehdi learned that Parham had been hanged.
Mr Kazemi’s initial request for asylum in the UK was turned down and he fled to the Netherlands. However it was decided that he should be returned to the UK.
The Home Office’s u-turn comes only after his case was taken up by gay rights activists, The Independent newspaper, the House of Lords and the European Parliament, all of whom opposed his deportation to Iran.
Jean Lambert MEP, who has called on the Home Office numerous times to provide protection to Mr Kazemi, said:
"I am delighted that the Home Office has reached the right decision and that the UK has offered sanctuary to Mr Kazemi. It would have been utterly reprehensible to have deported him to Iran where he may very well have been executed because of his sexuality.
"The Home Office must not be complacent when assessing risk. In over 75 countries men, women and children are still punished for their sexuality and homophobia causes misery in many more. Iran denies that homosexuals exist, but the torture and execution of LGBT individuals has been documented. In this case it was clear that a life was in danger and offering sanctuary was the only honourable course of action."