Act Now to Stop the Execution of Mehdi Kazemi
Committee to Free Mehdi (NYC)
Seyed Mehdi Kazemi is a twenty year old homosexual in imminent danger of being executed by the government of Iran for what they describe as the crime of sodomy. Mehdi fled from Iran in November 2005 for Britain and has since escaped to Holland. Dutch officials now intend to return him to Britain despite the fact that British officials have already rejected his claim for asylum. Being charged with sodomy in Iran is a near certain death sentence. In fact, Mehdi has already been forced to live though the horror of having his partner, Parham, hung to death on a similar charge in April 2006.
Mehdi’s application for asylum was turned down by the British Home Office a few months ago. According to the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Britain, "The Home Office claims that a gay person can return to Iran and avoid persecution by being ‘discreet.’” In response to this ruling, Mehdi fled in secret from England, intending to eventually take refuge in Canada, but was blocked and ended his desperate journey in Holland. Now the United Kingdom has sent a formal request to Holland asking for Mehdi’s return to Britain - according to the Treaty of Dublin, and according to regulation CE 343/2003. Once he lands in Britain, deportation hearings will proceed and he will be sent to face a death sentence in Iran.
Iranian officials have been quite clear about their intentions. They claim that prior to his April 2006 execution, Mehdi’s partner Parham “confessed” to having a relationship with Mehdi. The Iranian Police have already turned up at Mehdi’s father’s home in Teheran with an arrest warrant for his son, with the intention of sending him to trial. The regime also has a long bloody track record of violating the human rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people.
Tragically the deportation of homosexuals in danger is not unprecedented in the United Kingdom. There have been at least two similar cases in the past - both with horrific outcomes. According to the EveryOne Group, a human rights group based in Europe, "In September 2003, Israfil Shiri, a gay Iranian asylum seeker, died after pouring petrol over himself and setting himself on fire in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester, after his asylum claim was refused [in the lower and appeal court] and his deportation to Iran, where he would-have-been hanged, had been arranged. In April 2005, 26-year-old Hussein Nasseri shot himself two weeks after his asylum claim was turned down by the Home Office, refusing in this way to let himself be killed by Iranian executioners."
You can act now to stop another tragic loss of life and a gross violation of human rights. Please forward this email to your friends, family and other organizations. Ask them to consider endorsing the attached letter of protest to Dutch, British and European Union officials. You could also request that a speaker from the Committee to Free Mehdi (NYC) come to your next meeting to give a short presentation. If you are located in the New York City area please consider joining a contingent of people to deliver our letter to these officials on March 21, 2008 at 12:00pm.
You can receive more info on the campaign by emailing freemehdi@yahoo.com
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