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Urgent Action - Pegah at Risk of Deportation from England (August 21, 07)
Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian lesbian whose refugee case has been denied by the British government and, as a result, will be deported to Tehran on Thursday, August 23, 2007. Currently, she is kept in detention by British officials. Right now, Pegah is experiencing a very dangerous situation, and is having a very tough time. If she is going to be returned to Iran, there is much of possibility that she, due to her sexual orientation and her past life in Iran, will be sentenced to death, or, in a most optimistic view, be prosecuted and tortured in some of the ways that are all common among Iran's religious officials when having made the decision to chastise the so called 'corrupted' citizens. It should also be taken into consideration that most probably, Islamic officials will not speak the truth for which they have arrested the accused and made the verdict of punishment, but instead, as a common practice among those in power in Iran, they can accuse her of another fictitious crime and thereby, show it reasonable in public eyes to perform punishment [whatever punishment they will decide to do] on this innocent, young woman. Nowadays, we can observe that large numbers of Iranian youths become arrested only for what is considered the Western styles of dressing by Islamic officials. Regarding the last speech given by the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi, in relation to homosexuality and the legal procedures that will be applied when facing those who show up as homosexuals in society, in addition to the recent outspoken words of Iran's religious leader and the Secretary of Iran's Council of Guardians, together denouncing homosexuality and its social evidences, it seems obvious that Pegah, whose name and other indications has recently been released on many websites and in many languages, is exposed to a serious danger from inside. However, this is not the first time that the British government engages in deporting Iranian Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender to Iran. We must pay doubled attention to the fact that the Islamic government of Iran has been continuously condemned on an international scale for violating a number of principal human rights on Iranian people. Therefore, it must be said that by taking such steps as deporting Iranian asylum seekers back to Iran, the British government, also, acts as an associate of the Islamic Regime of Iran in violating some of the basic and most important human rights. In fact, by doing this, the British government is breaching the principals of the United Nation's 1951 Convention by which the return of any refugees to their original countries, if there is a danger of facing torture and death for them, has been prohibited. The Iranian Queer Organization, sincerely and importunately urges the United Nations, the European Union, all Governments, National and International Organizations, and all Human Right Defenders to persistently protest against this policy that has been pursued by the mentioned government, and possibly, in this particular situation, this is the only way to save the life of Pegah and the lives of many other queer asylum seekers.
Please pay an especial attention to the warning fact that we really do not have much time left; we are running out of time. Pegah Should Not be deported to Iran. In this very short time that we yet have left, possibly getting gatherings in front of British embassies across the world, and trying to hit them by large numbers of emails and faxes, would be the only, appropriate solution and the liveliest help to her terrible situation. Please ask your governments to stand for Pegah's and other asylum seekers' right to live, and strongly defend their right when it is needed.
GOOD NEWS from Lesley: We have just had some good news! - Richard Caborn, Pegah's MP has managed (together with the 'global' campaign, I think) to persuade the Home Office to defer Pegah's deportation until tues 28th August. Sarah Lawrence R C's PA has just told me, "that Pegah will be deported on Tuesday 28th August, unless representations come in from Richard Caborn and others before that date" Wilson & Co (solicitors) are currently looking at Pegah's papers and Sebastian at UKlgig expects to be able to tell me what they think sometime this evening. Will keep you all posted. Everyone - Many heartfelt thanks for your all your support - we couldn't have got this far without you...we still need to keep up the campaign though - no flagging now!
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IRanian Queer Organization – IRQO |
