Act Now to Stop the Execution of Mehdi Kazemi
Committee to Free Mehdi (NYC)

Seyed Mehdi Kazemi is a twenty year old homosexual in imminent danger of being executed by the government of Iran for what they describe as the crime of sodomy. Mehdi fled from Iran in November 2005 for Britain and has since escaped to Holland. Dutch officials now intend to return him to Britain despite the fact that British officials have already rejected his claim for asylum. Being charged with sodomy in Iran is a near certain death sentence. In fact, Mehdi has already been forced to live though the horror of having his partner, Parham, hung to death on a similar charge in April 2006.
Mehdi’s application for asylum was turned down by the British Home Office a few months ago. According to the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Britain, "The Home Office claims that a gay person can return to Iran and avoid persecution by being ‘discreet.’” In response to this ruling, Mehdi fled in secret from England, intending to eventually take refuge in Canada, but was blocked and ended his desperate journey in Holland. Now the United Kingdom has sent a formal request to Holland asking for Mehdi’s return to Britain - according to the Treaty of Dublin, and according to regulation CE 343/2003. Once he lands in Britain, deportation hearings will proceed and he will be sent to face a death sentence in Iran.read more »