Call to stop deportation from Green MP hopeful
25 August 2007
Kemptown Parliamentary hopeful Ben Duncan has called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to halt the deportation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender asylum seekers to Iran – after it emerged that a lesbian living in Sheffield was due to be sent to Tehran next week to face imprisonment for her sexuality.Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian lesbian who fled to the UK after her partner was arrested in 2005. Her asylum application – claiming refugee status on the basis of her fear of imprisonment in Iran – was rejected, and she is due to be deported to Tehran next Tuesday. Since she fled Iran in 2005, she has become a high-profile Lesbian rights campaigner.
Cllr Duncan, who also sits on Brighton and Hove City Council’s Equalities Forum, said:
“The fact that there are 77 countries around the world which continue to punish the ‘crime’ of homosexuality with imprisonment or death should shame us all. As the old saying goes, ‘until we are all free, none of us are free’.
“The Government should be bringing pressure to bear on its counterparts in these countries to stop discriminating against their LGBT communities and begin respecting universal human rights for all. In the meantime – we certainly shouldn’t be deporting LGBT asylum seekers to face further persecution at their hands.
“That’s why I’ve urged the Home Secretary to intervene in this case – and grant Pegah the same freedom from persecution and discrimination we would expect her to enjoy if she was from Brighton rather than Tehran .”
Notes to editors:
For further information please contact Ben Duncan on 07973 823358[ENDS]
