Discreet gays should be safe in Iran claims Home Secretary

[Shana A]

Discreet gays should be safe in Iran claims Home Secretary

By Tony Grew • June 23, 2008 - 11:11

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8064.html

The Home Office does not think that Iranian asylum seekers who identify as gay or lesbian should automatically be assumed to be at risk if they are returned, according to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

In a letter to Lord Roberts of Llandudno she said that there are "cases where people able to demonstrate a need for international protection" but that there is not enough evidence to support a moratorium on deportations to Iran.

The letter, published in The Independent, is bound to cause anger among gay groups who claim that as many as 4,000 gay and lesbian people have been executed in the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.