Standing Watch

Kiana Firouz (L) faces deportation, execution

Kiana Firouz is a 27-year old Iranian actress and lesbian activist, who faces imminent deportation to Iran where she will be at risk of torture and death.  Firouz attended a premiere in London of a film in which she plays a lesbian who is sent back to Iran after the Home Office rejects her application for refugee status.

Today Firouz faces the reality of being deported to Iran, where the punishment for lesbianism is 100 lashes. If a woman is found guilty four times, she is sentenced to death.  After Iranian intelligence agents began following her and intimidating her, Firouz fled to the UK and applied for asylum. The Home Office rejected her application, and two appeals have since been lost.  She has one final chance to appeal the decision, or she will be on a plane back to Tehran

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition agreement states that the government will, “stop deportation of asylum seekers who had to leave home countries because of intimidation over sexual orientation,” according to BBC reports.

It is believed Iranian officials will be especially harsh towards Firouz, because of the publicity surrounding her case, which puts the Iranian regime in a decidedly unfavorable light.

Firouz arrived in Britain two years ago as a student, but while she was there the Iranian intelligence services discovered footage of a documentary that she had been making secretly about homosexuals in Tehran. The Home Office rejected her asylum appeal on the ground that she could conceal her homosexuality if she went home, and that ruling was been upheld by two appeals tribunals this year.

“My application was … ignored by the Home Office despite the serious threat to my life that I’ll face if they deport me to Iran,” she told Radio Free Europe. “I’m shattered and emotionally devastated that they have dealt with my application so irresponsibly.”

A statement on this matter may be found here.

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