More on Kazemi

Emanuele Ottolenghi - 03.11.2008 - 10:44 PM

I blogged about Mehdi Kazemi’s plight earlier today. The latest news on the case is just in: Mr. Kazemi’s request for asylum in the Netherlands was turned down by a Dutch court. Kazemi, who is gay, will now be deported back to the UK, where the legal system has already refused to grant him asylum, and thence, presumably, to Iran, where he faces torture and execution. His family, according to news reports, will now appeal to the European Court of Justice. Failure on the ECJ’s part to overturn the previous decisions would be an absolute disgrace for the EU: tens of thousands of illegal immigrants enter Europe every year and go on to enjoy the benefits (including the political freedoms) of modern Western society. It is grotesque that someone like Mr. Kazemi should be denied the protection given to so many others, out of what I suspect is a fear of offending extremist Muslims in England and the Netherlands.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 10:44 PM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “More on Kazemi”

1. 1
   George Jochnowitz Says:
   March 11th, 2008 at 11:18 PM

   All the presidential candidates should be talking about this. The United States should offer to admit Kazemi. Europeans might then stop sneering about how rigid and anti-gay America is.

   Leftists, who claim to support gay rights, won’t ever say anything bad about Iran. Conservatives, who are eager to find something bad to say about Iran, won’t support the right of an Iranian homosexual to live.

2. 2
   Unamerican Says:
   March 11th, 2008 at 11:42 PM

   i once worked in refugee determination . There were always many women who put cases that they would be persecuted for various sexual /gender issuesback in their country incluing Iran.. I do not recall that many were successful.

   This case is asking that a man be given a different treatment.

3. 3
   Yehudit Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 12:15 AM

   I hope they are all given different treatment from now on. Are you saying that this man should suffer for a bad decision just because the women did?

4. 4
   Dr. T Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 12:45 AM

   I understand the difficulty: women in many countries are treated in a way we consider barbaric. Nonetheless, to be returned to face virtually certain execution does seem hard even for the Eurocrats.
   I agree the US should offer him (but for now only him) asylum.

5. 5
   Unamerican Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 2:29 AM

   Well Yehudit & Dr T-your call but the potential numbers of women in a similar situation would be in the tens of millions- most likely hundreds of millions but they wont because they cannot get out .

6. 6
   Ziggy Zoggy Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 2:32 AM

   I’m shocked. This is terrible news. I thought Holland would grant Kazemi asylum.

   This isn’t the first high profile case of the “progressive” government in Holland screwing over a decent person to appease the muslim colony there. They deported Ayaan Hirsi Ali when she dared to discuss some unpleasant truths about muslims.

   Trying to placate implacable savages at the expense of decent people is not a progressive act. Placating muslims seems to be a policy in Europe nowadays.

   I sure hope the EU steps up and does the right thing, even if it does it for the wrong reasons. (Saving face, preventing American aid, etc.)

7. 7
   Tzvi Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 5:35 AM

   I also don’t think Unamerican is looking a this issue clearly in his analogy with women seeking asylum on gender issues. Iran and other countries treat women badly and not as equals. But it doesn’t kill women just for being women. Western states cannot say that any woman from a society where woman are not treated as equals can gain asylum. There are just two many women in these societies -there is no way they can all be absorbed. On the other hand, open gays are killed in Iran, and there are much fewer of them. If asylum laws are meant to apply to anyone, it is those who reasonably fear imminent execution, as in this case.

8. 8
   paul canning Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 8:34 AM

   thanks so much for continuing to highlight Mehdi - he is not alone, campaigners are also trying to save an Iranian lesbian in the UK. your support means a lot to both of them but we are facing a hard-faced/two-faced administration.

   You can find more about the Urgent appeal for Mehdi Kazem here > http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/03/urgent-appeal-mehdi-kazemi-please-help.html

   and updates about the case here > http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/02/update-iranian-gay-deportee-mehdi.html

   cheers

   Paul Canning

9. 9
   A New European » Humane EU Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 9:32 AM

   […] court. Kazemi, who is gay, will now be deported back to the UK, where the legal system has already refused to grant him asylum, and thence, presumably, to Iran, where he faces torture and […]

10. 10
    Seth Halpern Says:
    March 12th, 2008 at 9:41 AM

    I don’t think the West has any choice but to accept at least some of these asylum-seekers. If we don’t, the Iranians and their ilk can argue, as the Nazis tried to do, that we are hypocrites for complaining about the persecution of people we ourselves don’t want. The logistics and the gender discrimination angle are entirely valid concerns but would be obscured by Iran’s propaganda coup.

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