U.K. LGBTI Asylum Seekers & Refugees Conference July 5-7th

The 'Case of Double Jeopardy' conference will explore the double jeopardy faced by LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) Asylum seekers and Refugees. Firstly, from their own nation because of who they are and then secondly, from where they seek asylum.

The conference will be launched at the House of Lords 5th July 2010 (Hosted by Baroness Joyce Gould) and will be held at the University of Greenwich 6th – 7th July 2010.

For more information, to submit papers, or register please go to the conference website.

Organization Spotlight: The Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration

The Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) is the first non-governmental organization (NGO) to focus exclusively on refugees and asylum seekers fleeing sexual and gender based violence.

Germany threatens to deport Mehdi N. to Iran

We request your assistance with an urgent case involving Mehdi N., a 29-year-old gay Iranian who seeks asylum in Germany. Mehdi N. escaped from Iran at the beginning of 2007 due to his well-known fear of persecution on the basis of his sexual orientation. He stayed in Istanbul, Turkey for six months, but was unaware of his ability to apply for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey. At that time, he was also uninformed about the existence of the Iranian Queer Railroad and our ability to support him.

Mehdi N. was lonely in Turkey. His biggest fear was that Turkish police would arrest him and deport him back to Iran. Eventually, someone took him to Germany where he sought to claim asylum.

Mehdi N. should be granted refugee status by the German government, because upon his forced return to Iran, he will face imprisonment, torture, and even execution. On February 10, 2009, the European Commission affirmed that persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation is a legitimate justification for an asylum claim. The Commission has confirmed that there is “an obligation on Member States to grant refugee status to persons who are found to have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group, including a group based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation.”

Send your letters to:

BMI – Federal Minister of the Interior Mr. Wolfgang Schäuble

Address: Alt Moabit 101 D10559 Berlin

Phone: +49 3018 681-0

Fax: +49 3018 681-2926

Email: poststelle@bmi.bund.de

BMJ – Federal Minister of Justice Ms. Brigitte Zypries:

Address: Mohrenstraße 3710117 Berlin

Phone: +49 1888 580-0

Fax: +49 1888 580-9525

Email: poststelle@bmj.bund.de

European Justice & Human Rights Spokeswoman Ms. Sarah Ludford:

European Parliament, Brussels

Phone: +3222847104

Fax: + 3222849104

Email: sarah.ludford@europarl.europa.eu

Please CC IRQR info@irqr.net for tracking purposes. Thank you for your support.

Crossposted from LGBT Asylum News.

Stop Deportation of Iranian Lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh

Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian lesbian currently being threatened by the British government with deportation to her homeland. In Iran 4,000+ homosexuals have been murdered. Pegah is in danger of torture and possibly stoning due to her sexual orientation.

Pegah says:

"If the British government could prove to me that I would be safe in Iran and to be able to lead a normal life and to be myself I would be very happy to go back to Iran. I had to leave my old father, my ill mother and young sister. I have two lovely children which their father took away from me. I had to give this all up because my life was at risk. At the moment I am safe because I am in England but my life is very difficult. I miss my family and more than anything I am worried all the time that the police will suddenly arrest me and send me back."

Please demand the British government grant her and other LGBT people whose lives are in danger asylum within their borders.

(Please note Pegah's Home Office reference number: B1191057)
Click here to email government officials

Please also sign the petition below.
http://www.petitiononline.com/pegah/petition.html

Web Spotlight: Iranian Queer Railroad

"The Iranian Queer Railroad is a new organization working to create a simple structure and focus upon supporting Iranian queers to be safe on their journey and to arrive in a new country to live and be free.

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and mainly to Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. In Canada they had their freedom. In the past few years one of our major activities was about asylum seekers who must escape Iran due to their sexual orientation and we will continue this work under IRQR. Iranian queer refugees are resettling in Canada, and also in United States and in parts of Europe."

Gay Artist in U.K. Faces Deportation - Action Needed!

UPDATE: Originally scheduled to be deported on Azerbaiajan Airlines, we asked activists to email and call the company not to deport him, they caved in and Azerbaijan Airlines will not be deporting Babi.

He will now be deported from Heathrow Airport at 15:15 today on flight BD929 British Midlands Airways (BMI) to Baku.

Please contact BMI and let them know in no uncertain terms of the huge level of damage this deportation will do to their company.
Telephone: 0870 6070 555 or 08712240224 or +44 (0)1332 64 8181 (callers outside UK)
Also you can call the BMI switchboard (ask for a senior manager): 01332854000
Fax: 01709 314993

It appears the most effective number to call is 01332854687 extension 2 and speak to press officer Rob Coveney.

Customer Relations: 01332854321 extension 2

E-Contact Form for BMI

Please say:
- Babi is medically unfit to travel, and is under threat in Azerbaijan.
- That Azerbaijan Airlines were orginally meant to deport later on today, but they refused for ethical reasons.
- Threaten a boycott of the company and serious finacial consquences that that will cause.
- Highlight the damage it will cause the BMI brand from the large amount of press coverage this will get (point out that there has been a large amount of press coverage of Babi’s case alredy)

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Online Petition: Click Here

Write to the home office and refer to ref. number: B1234623

Send to: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department,
Mail: 3rd Floor Peel Buildings, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Fax: 020 8760 3132 (00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK)

E-mail: jacqui.smith@homeoffice.gov.uk

H/T to Unzipped: Gay Armenia for the story.

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"Babakhan Badalov (Babi) is an openly gay, internationally renowned radical artist and poet from Azerbaijan. His art and poetry have been explicitly critical of the government and present/past presidents. These factors have led Babi to become a target of repression and persecution over many years. He has recently been described by the government and prominent public figures as being a traitor to Azerbaijan.

Because of his sexuality and the radical nature of his creative activities, he has endured government-led suppression from the Ministry of National Security (MNS – Azerbaijan’s modern-day version of the KGB), together with physical and mental abuse from other sectors of society. All this has taken place in a Muslim country, where homosexuality remains an extremely taboo subject. This led one of Babi’s brothers to threaten to kill him because of the shame which he has brought on the family.

As a result of beatings and bullying over the years Babi has only eight teeth remaining and suffers from a number of mental health problems – such as anxiety and panic-attacks, suicidal tendencies, together with insomnia and a general feeling of depression."

Help Ugandan Gay Man Gain Asylum

UPDATE: Mr. Nyombi was scheduled for deportation this past Sunday and refused to board a plane to Uganda. Officials allowed him to refuse boarding the plane. Currently he is being held in the airport, which gives us activists and legal groups more time to demand justice for him. Please continue to urge for his asylum to be granted.

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We have two asylum granting cases in the U.K. dealing with a gay man (John Bosco) and a lesbian (Prossy Kakooza) who face a return to Uganda where they will likely be killed due to their sexual orientation. The U.K. has decided not to grant asylum to these two individuals, posing a serious threat to their security. Please ensure their asylum in the U.K. Please immediately contact the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration within the Home Office about granting asylum to both John Bosco Nyombi and to Prossy Kakooza.

Write to Liam Byrne, the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration within the Home Office Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk (Please ensure you put FAO Liam Byrne, Minister in the subject line)

Petition to stop deportation:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/john-bosco-nyombi

Help Ugandan Lesbian Gain Asylum

"Prossy Kakooza is a 26-year-old woman seeking asylum in the UK. She fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation.

Prossy had been forced into an engagement when her family discovered her relationship with the girlfriend she met at university. Both women were marched two miles naked to the police station, where they were locked up.

Prossy’s inmates subjected her to gross acts of humiliation. She was violently raped by police officers who taunted her with derogatory comments like ‘’we’ll show you what you’re missing’’ and ‘’you’re only this way because you haven’t met a real man’’. She was also scalded on her thighs with hot meat skewers.

Prossy was eventually taken out of prison after her father bribed the guards. Her family had decided they would sacrifice her instead, believing this would ‘’take the curse away from the family’’.

Whilst her family were making arrangements to slaughter her, Prossy managed to flee to the United Kingdom to seek asylum.

When Prossy went for treatment to her local GP’s surgery in the UK they were so shocked by the extent of her injuries they called the police.

She was taken to the St. Mary’s Centre in Manchester, and she is still receiving counselling there for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Prossy’s asylum application has been refused by the Home Office, who acknowledge she was brutally raped and burnt because of the medical evidence, but have dismissed these appalling attacks as ‘’the random actions of individuals’’, and state she can be returned to a different town in Uganda.

This judgement ignores the clear danger to gay people throughout the country where the penalty for homosexuality is life imprisonment.

Also, in Uganda, you cannot settle in a new town without a reference from your previous village, and on the basis she is a lesbian, Prossy would be subjected to similar persecution wherever she went.

We consider that if Prossy is sent back, she faces the continuing threat of incarceration, and further sickening attacks - which next time may be fatal.

Prossy is a highly educated woman who can be a productive member of society.

She has a right to be free with her sexuality, which is causing no harm to anyone, and she has a right not to be raped, attacked, or murdered.

Please see below to discover how you can help Prossy to live a valued and productive life in safety and security." (MCC Manchester)

Prossy's Video Story:


How you can help

1. Download the petition, print it off, get it signed by yourself, your family, friends, work colleagues, drinking buddies and anyone else you know! Please return the petition to us so we can send it off to the Home Office - our address is at the bottom of the petition.

2. Sign the online petition and promote this to your friends and contacts via your emails, blog or personal website.

3. Write to Liam Byrne, the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration within the Home Office Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk (Please ensure you put FAO Liam Byrne, Minister in the subject line)

Or fax your letter to him on 0870 336 9034,

or write to him at:

Mr Liam Byrne MP
Minister of State for Borders and Immigration
Home Office
3rd Floor, Peel Buildings
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF

URGENT ALERT: Demand Asylum for Bisexual Nigerian Woman & Family

"“Time is running out for a bisexual woman who has been denied refugee status in Canada. Jane Okojie is scheduled to be deported to Nigeria on Thu, Jul 10 where she says she and her two children will face persecution because of her bisexuality.” (Queerty)

Click to Email the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada(IRB)info@irb-cisr.gc.ca and demand asylum for Ms. Jane Okojie.