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Appeal for the life of Pegah Emambakhsh

Roberto Malini - Matteo Pegoraro - Gruppo EveryOne | 24.08.2007 06:48 | Gender | Migration | Repression | Sheffield

The United Kingdom is violating all the international Conventions deciding to repatriate Pegah Emambakhsh to Iran, where she's condemned to death because of her homosexuality.

Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian lesbian of forty years, escaped from her country where, forced to the wedding by the family, she was having a story of love with a woman.
In 2005, in order to avoid the persecution, with great courage and risking her life she's escaped to the United Kingdom asking for asylum.

Even if the United Kingdom undersigned the convention that protect homosexual refugees to the risk of persecution by their native land, the asylum has been denied. But it's not all: she has been emprisoned and condemned to the deportation and not just pushed out over the frontier: she's going to be deported to the death.

The EveryOne Group promoted an appeal, with some Iranian groups for the protection of the human rights. A big People's Movement in favour of the life of Pegah and the rights of the refugees has been created. Although thousands of letters and protests of Italian and European political authorities, intellectuals and activists of all the world, experts of international rights, United Kingdom is not receding from the decision to deport Pegah and the single result that have been obtained is an extension of few days. The deportation has been fixed for 28 August 2007, with the flight for Tehran of the 21.35.

In the meanwhile the movement for the life of Pegah grows and the initiatives to protests are multiplied.

Pegah Emambakhsh is now in the Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, that is defined "acceptance centre", near Sheffield. The asylum has been denied with inconsistent motivations, including the fact that there are no proofs of her homosexuality.
In Germany too, a young lesbian woman, Jasmine K. requested political asylum, but she too was turned down by the authorities for the same insubstantial reason: she cannot prove she is a lesbian.
The “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and the " Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees" protect those who are persecuted because of their diversity without them having to prove it. Homosexuality is an inclination that exists at the moment it is perceived or merely declared by a human being. Asking for proof of such inclination is a violation of human rights.
The State of Israel took in Jewish refugees from the Holocaust on the mere basis of their declarations. Many of them were without identification papers.

This is the only way to respect human rights. The alternative would be the humiliating demonstration of one’s sexual preferences, pointless clinical and psychological testing and inquisitorial procedures damaging to a person’s privacy and human dignity.

The EveryOne group firmly requests that Pegah Emambakhsh, Jasmine K and all the other people persecuted for their homosexuality be taken in as refugees by countries that consider themselves civilized and safeguarded from the effects of intolerance.

Till this moment, although dozen of thousands of persons - including personalities from politics fields, culture, information and show - have joined to the appeal written to the government, to the British magistracy and to the media, protested at Embassies and Consulates, the United Kingdom is not back tracked and has confirmed the deportation of Pegah towards the torture and the lapidation.

For the Everyone Group: Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro, Ahmad Rafat, Dario Picciau, Steed Gamero, Lavitzky Branches, Arsham Seemed.

In order to join and undersign the appeal to dave the life of Pegah Emambakhsh, send an email to to  matteo.pegoraro@infinito.it or  roberto.malini@annesdoor.com specifing your name and last name (if you want, your opinion too) with the Subject “Adhesion appeal case Pegah Emambakhsh”.

We pray you to diffuse the appeal to all your knowing friends. Thanks for the help and the collaboration.

For the the EveryOne Group: Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro, Ahmad Rafat, Dario Picciau, Steed Gamero, Rami Lavitzky, Arsham Parsi

To subscribe the appeal, send an e-mail having for object "Appeal case Pegah Emambakhsh" with your name, surname and country (and, if you want, your idea) to:  matteo.pegoraro@infinito.it or  roberto.malini@annesdoor.com. Thank you for you help and cooperation.

Roberto Malini - Matteo Pegoraro - Gruppo EveryOne
- e-mail: roberto.malini@annesdoor.com
- Homepage: http://www.gruppoeveryone.helloweb.eu - www.annesdoor.com

Comments

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Excellent point about legal Catch 22

24.08.2007 20:25

You have made an excellent point about the legal issues surrounding Pegah's case. Thank you, that is very useful background material.

So, in a nutshell, asylum seekers facing torture and death in the country they fled from if their sexual orientation was not carefully concealed are now refused asylum in Europe because they have no categorical proof that they are gay.

This is a hideously cruel type of Catch 22, which needs to be exposed and vigorously challenged by all human rights activists.

Stephanie Warrick
mail e-mail: xocotosca-pegah@yahoo.com