Iranian lesbian finally granted asylum
By Albert Smith | Tue, 02/17/2009 - 15:16
After battling the asylum system of the UK for three years, a gay woman has finally been granted refugee status in the UK.
It was confirmed yesterday that Pegah Emambakhsh will be allowed to live legally in the UK.
In 2005, the forty-year old Iranian first claimed asylum after she escaped from her home country because her partner was arrested and tortured before being sentenced to death by stoning.
Even her father was arrested, interrogated and tortured in order to get some information on her whereabouts.
However, her claim for asylum was declined by the UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) in spite of her appeals.
In the year 2007, Ms. Emambakhsh was arrested in Sheffield and was taken to the Yarls Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire.
She was almost certain to be deported, but her deportation from the UK was halted by the late intervention of Richard Caborn, of the office of Sheffield Central Member of Parliament.
It was learned that her sexual orientation and her past life in Iran might well have resulted in her being executed as many lesbians and gay men in Iran has earlier been executed since the Ayatollahs came to power in 1979.
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