IRAN: UK GRANTS ASYLUM TO VICTIM OF TEHRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 001433

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PREL EU IR NL UK
SUBJECT: IRAN: UK GRANTS ASYLUM TO VICTIM OF TEHRAN
PERSECUTION OF GAYS, CITING PUBLICITY

REF: EMBASSY LONDON DAILY MAY 21

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Leslie Tsou for reasons 1.4 (
b) and (d)



1. (C) Summary: Reversing an earlier decision, and in the
wake of considerable coverage in the UK press, the Home
Office on May 20 granted asylum to a gay Iranian teenager who
had claimed persecution by Iranian authorities. The HMG
decision was not a finding of systematic persecution of
homosexuals in Iran, and left in place the UK requirement
that every gay Iranian asylum petitioner in the UK must prove
systematic persecution as an element of his/her case. An FCO
contact intimated to London Iran Watcher (IW) that HMG may
revisit this heavy burden of proof it imposes on gay asylum
seekers after an upcoming key phase of the nuclear
confrontation with Tehran has been resolved. End Summary.

Gay Iranian Feared Execution, Gets Asylum
--------------


2. (SBU) Iranian national Mehdi Kazemi was granted asylum in
the UK on May 20. After coming to the UK to study in 2005,
Kazemi learned his partner in Iran had been convicted of
sodomy and executed, and had named Kazemi before his death.
Kazemi therefore feared for his life if forced to return.
After his asylum claim was originally denied by the Home
Office, Kazemi fled to the Netherlands, but was deported back
to the UK because he had no standing to seek asylum in the
Netherlands (the UK having been the country of "first
arrival").;


3. (U) Human rights activists and opponents of the Iranian
regime claim between 4,000 and 6,000 gay men and lesbians
have been executed in Iran for crimes related to their sexual
preference since 1979.; Following Kazemi's return to the UK
in March, there was Parliamentary criticism of HMG,s
practice of handling Iranian asylum petitioners reporting
persecution for sexual orientation on a case-by-case factual
basis rather than, as in many EU jurisdictions, having in
place a blanket finding that such persecution exists in Iran.
Soon after Kazemi's return to the UK, the Home Secretary
agreed to reconsider his case.

UK Limits Legal Scope of the Decision
--------------


4. (SBU) The FCO told IW there is no change to HMG policy on
victims of persecution in Iran for sexual orientation, in
that Kazemi was granted Extraordinary Leave to Remain; the
Home Office had found the unusually high level of attention
the case generated had in effect precluded Kazemi's safe
return to Iran, regardless of whether his initial claim of
persecution was well-founded. Future gay asylum petitioners
from Iran will still have to prove "de novo" to UK
authorities the existence of persecution of gays in their
country. Separate Home Office comments to Poloff on May 22
confirmed the FCO explanation, noting gender preference is
not a basis for asylum, but that Kazemi was found to be a de
facto "gay rights campaigner."


5. (C) FCO also noted another sexual orientation Iran asylum
case is pending at the Home Office, for a woman, Pegah
Emambakhsh, age 40. Her case has also received attention in
the UK press and the FCO speculated that Emambakhsh's
forthcoming result may be decided in a way similar to that in
Kazemi,s case, since the P5 1 offer will soon be delivered
in Tehran.


6. (C) Embassy Comment: The UK attaches great importance to
Iran,s reaction to the P5 1 nuclear offer, delivery of which
is now pending. HMG therefore may, in its handling of the
Kazemi and similar cases, be acting to insure the safety of
asylum applicants already in the UK, but delaying at least
for now a hardening of its public position on this type of
human rights violation by the regime. HMG can be expected to
avoid new tensions with Tehran over potentially volatile
issues, such as homosexual rights, while immediate,
overriding nuclear issues are pending.


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