Gay Teen Fears Being Deported Back to Iran, Fears Facing Execution

Mehdi Kazemi had recently lost his asylum plea in the Netherlands and looks to be deported back to his nation of Iran. The teenager said that he will face execution for being homosexual back home in Iran.

Before his boyfriend was executed, Medhi Kazemi was named. Acts of homosexuality, let alone being gay is illegal in Iran. However, Kazemi will not be immediately sent back to Iran. While Kazemi had lost the plea for asylum in the Netherlands, he will be sent back to Britain. However, the asylum plea was already been denied in Britain. Interestingly enough, it triggered a campaign cause for LGBT activists and organizations across the nation of Europe. Currently, Kazemi is 19 years of age. Back in 2005, Kazemi was studying English in Britain. It was then that he learned that his boyfriend was executed. The following year, Kazemi headed to the Netherlands after his plea was turned out by the British government. He was very close to getting sent back to Iraq. The Dutch government tends to be more lenient in such cases due to the persecution of homosexuals by the Iranian government. But, Kazemi’s plea was denied by the government due to the Dublin Regulation initiated by the European Union (EU) back in 2003. Kazemi fears that he would be immediately executed not just due to being named. He adds that he will be executed because of the media coverage and campaigning for his cause in regards to the case. Back in September of 2007, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad said before a crowd of students at Columbia University in New York City that homosexuality did not exist in his country. That remark had brought forth much backlash from both students and the LGBT community. In a sense, Ahmadinejad is partially right. There is “no homosexuality” in Iran because they get executed.