Mr Kazemi fled to Holland from Britain last year after the Home Office rejected
his claim for asylum. But yesterday, a Dutch court ruled that he should be sent
back to Britain after refusing to consider his claim for asylum.
Speaking from an immigration detention centre in Rotterdam, Mr Kazemi told his
uncle, a British citizen, that he was "very, very angry" at the decision, which
will see him returned to Britain within 72 hours.
He believed he would have had a much better chance of protection from
deportation to Iran in Holland, according to his uncle. But yesterday,
Holland's highest administrative court rejected his lawyers' arguments that the
UK asylum and immigration system did not take proper account of international
conventions that uphold the rights of refugees.
Mr Kazemi arrived in London as a student in 2004, after which his boyfriend was
arrested by Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged. In a telephone
conversation with his father in Tehran, Mr Kazemi was told that, before the
execution in April 2006, his boyfriend had been questioned about sexual
relations he had with other men and under interrogation had named Mr Kazemi as
his partner.
Fearing for his life if he returned to Iran, Mr Kazemi claimed asylum in
Britain. But in 2007 his case was refused. Terror-stricken at the prospect of
being sent home, the young Iranian made a desperate attempt to evade
deportation and fled to Holland.
"There is no doubt that Mehdi will be arrested and probably executed if he is
sent back there," said his 51-year- old uncle, a salesman from Hampshire. "The
police have issued a warrant for his arrest. He will be in terrible danger if
he goes back."
Mr Kazemi's father has also told him that if the state doesn't kill him, he
will. "His father is very angry but his mother still loves him. She is
extremely worried for him but she is in a very difficult position. In Iran,
mothers don't stop loving their children because they are gay."
Mr Kazemi's only hope now is that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will exercise
her discretion and intervene in his case, or that either the European Court of
Human Rights or the European Court of Justice agree to consider the wider
implications of gay Iranian asylum-seekers. Mr Kazemi's case is be debated by
the European Parliament recently.
His case was taken up by Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs
spokesman, who wrote to Ms Smith to urge the Government to end the return of
all gay asylum-seekers to Iran. "It seems absolutely clear that any gay or
lesbian person sent back to Iran is at risk of their lives," he said. "Such
returns must be stopped."
Jean Lambert, a Green Party MEP for London, who has signed an appeal to the
European Commission and the prime ministers of the UK and the Netherlands
regarding the Kazemi case, said: "The law is clear that no one should be
returned to a country where their life would be in danger and it seems that Mr
Kazemi has a very strong case for asylum."
Omar Kuddus of Gay Asylum UK added: "This is a bitter defeat and the
deportation back to Iran must be stopped at any cost."
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed Mr Kazemi had exhausted all his domestic
avenues of appeal and could expect to be detained pending his deportation. But
she added: "Any further representations will be considered on their merits
taking into account all the circumstances."
