Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 22:25:02 +0200 (MET DST) From: skolander@bahnhof.se (Bjoern Skolander) Subject: Action Alert: Iranian Gay Man Faces Expulsion from Sweden I am distributing this call for action on behalf of the Swedish Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights (RFSL). Your fax or signature may save the life of a homosexual Iranian male citizen, whose application for asylum in Sweden has been rejected. A second application has been handed in recently to the Swedish Aliens Appeals Board (Utlaenningsnaemnden). It is to influence the outcome of that application that your signature is needed. Below you will find: 1) addresses and faxnumbers for those of you who want to respond individually, 2) and instructions for how to join other list members in an easy-to-participate email-fax action. 3) Lastly you will find background information regarding the history of this asylum case. Please protest to the Utlaenningsnaemnden (the Swedish Aliens Appeals Board) and to the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Iranian citizen. Case no. UN 96/04565. Up for appeal in Utlanningsnamnden (AliensAppeals Board). Stress all or some of the following points: a) that the Islamic legislation stipulates death penalty for homosexuality. b) that the Iranian police has issued an warrant against this person. b) that a UN report from 1995 states that 64 Iranian homosexual citizens were executed in 1994. c) that countries as Australia, Canada and the USA grant asylum to homosexual Iranian citizens due to the persecution they will or might experience in Iran. d) and that homosexuals are mentioned as a separate category among 'other persons needing protection' in a proposition with amendments in the Alians Act, which regulates the Swedish refugees policy, the Swedish Government will present in September 1996. NOTE!!! It is very important that you include the CASE NUMBER (UN 96/04565). Addresses: Utlanningsnamnden P.O.Box 45 102 S-104 30 STOCKHOLM Sweden Fax +46-8-30 15 39 The Minister of Foreign Affairs Lena Hjelm-Wallen (the 'e' in Wallen should have an accent acute mark) Utrikesdepardementet Gustav Adolf torg 1 111 52 Stockholm Sweden Fax: +46 - 8 723 1176 Email: regeringen@sb.gov.se (address your message to Lena Hjelm-Wallen) Send copies to: RFSL P.O.Box 350 S-101 26 STOCKHOLM Fax +46-8-30 47 30 E-mail: forbund@rfsl.se If you want to take part in this action, you can respond individually by faxing your letter of protest to the numbers stated above, or join other listmembers in an easy-to-participate email/fax action. HOW TO JOIN THE EASY-TO-PARTICIPATE EMAIL-FAX ACTION: 1. Address your mail to: skolander@bahnhof.se 2. Write your NAME, ADDRESS (snailmail), etc in the body of the message 3. The letters of protest with all signatures will be faxed to the Swedish authorities on July 1st, 1996. Please post your participation before that date. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Iranian citizen arrived in Sweden in October 1994 and applied for asylum in November the same year. His application was rejected by the Swedish Immigration Board (Invandrarverket) in May 1995 and by the Aliens Appeals Board on 11 March 1996. The Iranian has given following motivation for his asylum application: In November 1994 shortly after his arrival in Sweden he received a phone call from his parents in Iran. They had been visited by Iranian police, who had asked for him and searched his room. They found three prohibited movies. One showing two gay man joking about Khomeini and Islam. Further they found a collection of poems, some of them anti-Islam as well as a photo of the former Shah and his wife. The police also showed the parents a nude photo of their son and his ex-lover, and told them that they, if they found him, would execute their son as they had done with his lover. Neither the Swedish Immigration Board nor the Aliens Appeals Board questions that the Iranian man is gay, but they doubt the reliability of his statement. None of the authorities seems to have considered what could happen to him if he were forced to go back to Iran. Last November the Iranian citizen Mehdi Barazandeh was executed there for his homosexuality. The Aliens Appeals Board has in earlier similar cases decided to give gay Iranians asylum in Sweden. If the board's present decision is not changed it will imply a considered tightening of the policy regarding gay asylum seekers in Sweden. Yours in solidarity, Stig-Ake Petersson and Cecialia Berggren The Swedish Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights (RFSL) ****************************************************************************** * To subscribe to QUEERPLANET, send mail to: majordomo@abacus.oxy.edu * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: subscribe queerplanet * * To unsubscribe to QUEERPLANET, send mail to: majordomo@abacus.oxy.edu * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe queerplanet * * Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! * ******************************************************************************