Back Towards The Locus

Remember Mehdi Kazemi? The gay Iranian that had to fight just to be granted a reprieve from deportation?

Well, an Iranian activist named Arsham Parsi has set up a new organisation, Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR), that aims to help those fleeing from the regime find safe places to live…

“Parsi said he and his organization are now in contact with 145 LGBT Iranian refugees currently in limbo and seeking permanent asylum – 85 of them are in Turkey, which shares a lengthy border with Iran and where cultural and political homophobia is rampant, while the rest are scattered throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. Some 22 are in the United Kingdom, which has been extremely reluctant to grant permanent asylum to gay Iranian refugees, and where in the last several years two Iranians have committed suicide after receiving deportation orders back to certain torture and possible death in Iran.”

Obviously, IRQR opposes the theocratic state, but any exploitative hawks loitering nearby will be disappointed to see that they believe that change can be found through “solidarity and cooperation“.

An eminently supportable organisation, then, and one that may become more necessary if Labour pay attention to the witterings of Woolas.