Italian politicians and officials said Rome could grant asylum to an Iranian lesbian who faces deportation from Britain and a possible death sentence back home. Meanwhile, gay rights proponents and left-wing politicians rallied for her cause in a protest on Monday outside the British embassy here.
Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, who fled to Britain in 2005 after her partner was arrested and tortured, is due to be expelled this week after her bid for residency was rejected, an advocacy group said.
Supporters in Britain are lobbying immigration authorities to show leniency. And activists in San Francisco have met with British representatives to press Emambakhsh's claim for asylum.
PHOTO: AFP
"If returned to Iran, she faces certain imprisonment, likely severe lashings and possibly even stoning to death. Her crime in Iran is her sexual orientation," said Peter Tatchell, of London-based gay rights charity OutRage.
The main Italian gay rights group, Arcigay, led about 100 people in a protest on Monday evening outside the British embassy. Some left-wing politicians from parties in Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left coalition joined the demonstration.
Arcigay has called on Prodi's government to offer Emambakhsh asylum.
"This life needs to be saved," Aurelio Mancuso, an Arcigay leader, yelled through a megaphone.
Government officials, including Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, have told reporters that Italy is ready to welcome the woman.
Italy, like other EU countries, does not have the death penalty, and began a push at the UN earlier this year for a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment.
Homosexuality is considered a crime in Iran and can carry the death penalty. In 2005, the Islamic regime hanged two teenagers on charges of homosexual acts.
Britain's Home Office declined to comment on Emambakhsh's case, saying it cannot discuss individual asylum cases.
Richard Caborn, a former British sports minister and a lawmaker for the northern English city of Sheffield, where Emambakhsh has lived since 2005, said he had won a temporary delay of her deportation and was planning to press British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith over the case.
"Maybe they wanted proof, but I don't know what proof I could have offered," Italian daily La Repubblica quoted Emambakhsh as saying on Sunday. "I'd rather die than go back to Iran, where something more terrible and painful than death awaits me."
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS