Death Threats for Gay Saudi Diplomat

The attorney for Ali Ahmad Asseri, a Saudi diplomat seeking political asylum in the United States because he is gay, said his client is a "basket case" after receiving death threats from overseas.

According to the New York Daily News, attorney Ally Bolour said Tuesday, "He's a basket case. He's very worried about his safety and so am I. We have gotten anonymous death threats from outside the country."

Asseri, who served as first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, awaits a decision from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He said that his superiors took his diplomatic passport after discovering that he was gay and friends with a Jewish woman, prompting him to fear deportation to Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is punishable by death.