Gay Iranian
Refugee Allowed Temporary Asylum

A gay Iranian teenager who was refused a safe haven in the United Kingdom has now been granted temporary asylum by British home secretary Jacqui Smith, following rising concern that he would be executed if forced to return to Iran, according to the Press Association.

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, moved to London in 2005 to study English but later discovered that his boyfriend in Iran had been arrested, charged with sodomy, and hanged. He then filed for asylum in England but was rejected late last year. So he fled to the Netherlands in hopes of gaining asylum there. Dutch officials decided, however, that according to law, asylum can be granted only by the original country in which the case was filed, so his case was again rejected, and he now faces return to the United Kingdom.

British home secretary Jacqui Smith, however, has announced that his case will be reconsidered after concerns that he could face execution if returned to his homeland.

"Following representations made on behalf of Mehdi Kazemi, and in the light of new circumstances since the original decision was made, I have decided that Mr. Kazemi's case should be reconsidered on his return to the U.K. from the Netherlands," Smith told the Press Association.

Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes also announced that he would support the teenager upon his return to the United Kingdom.

Iranian human rights activists say that more than 4,000 gays and lesbians have been executed since the ayatollahs seized power in 1979, according to the article. (The Advocate)