Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-year-old gay Iranian has lost his fight to remain in the Netherlands, a Dutch judge ruled yesterday. Kazemi claimed asylum in Britain after his boyfriend was arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged. The teenager fled to the Netherlands after being denied asylum in the UK, but must now return there, amid fears British authorities will force him to return to Iran to stand trial. Kazemi's uncle Saeed now says his nephew will take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Told of yesterday's court decision, Michael Cashman, the president of the European Parliament's Lesbian and Gay Intergroup and one of the MEPs sponsoring an emergency debate in the European Parliament on Thursday, said he was urging the UK government not to deport Kazemi back to Iran. "I call on the UK Government to do all they can to ensure that this man is not returned back to Iran and face certain death," he said in a statement. Cashman, a Labour MEP for the West Midlands, co-signed a motion with party colleague Pasqualina Napolitano which will be considered Thursday by Parliament as a matter of urgency. More on this story is available on the link below.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th March 2008 - 1:56pm