Are the post-Christian societies of England and Holland truly free and liberal if they are unwilling to to give asylum to a gay Iranian 19 year old who faces certain death if he returns to his country? Apparently they love the sin but not the sinner.
A gay teenager who claims he faces the death penalty in Iran after his boyfriend was executed there two years ago has spoken of his anger and disappointment at losing his legal battle against deportation.Mehdi Kazemi, 19, who sought sanctuary in Britain in 2005 when he discovered that his partner had been hanged in Tehran for engaging in homosexual acts, is expected to be returned to Iran in the next few weeks.
Mr Kazemi fled to Holland from Britain last year after the Home Office rejected his claim for asylum. But yesterday, a Dutch court ruled that he should be sent back to Britain after refusing to consider his claim for asylum.
Speaking from an immigration detention centre in Rotterdam, Mr Kazemi told his uncle, a British citizen, that he was "very, very angry" at the decision, which will see him returned to Britain within 72 hours.
He believed he would have had a much better chance of protection from deportation to Iran in Holland, according to his uncle. But yesterday, Holland's highest administrative court rejected his lawyers' arguments that the UK asylum and immigration system did not take proper account of international conventions that uphold the rights of refugees.
If the secular world won't save Mehdi Kazemi, who will? As Christians who value life, can we reconcile our Biblical view of homosexuality with the plight of this young man? Would we be willing to work with those we usually oppose in the struggle over whose values should guide our culture?
If not, Mehdi may be facing his executioners in a matter of days.
Crossposted at Marlowe's Shade
If the facts are as stated above, I think Christians should help him. Homosexual behavior is a sin, but so is sending someone back to a sure death sentence for it.