Hughes welcome Supreme Court ruling securing freedom from persecution for gay asylum seekers

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling that two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries of Cameron and Iran have the right to asylum in the UK.

I am delighted this ruling recognises the rights of gay asylum seekers, ensuring their freedom from persecution around the world.

“This plight is one that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have campaigned on for years. It is an issue that the Coalition Government is committed to addressing as we seek to restore Britain’s reputation around the world as a leader in the protection of human rights. I believe that today’s ruling will go some way to restoring that reputation.

“Other countries around the world must now follow the UK’s lead and recognise freedom of expression and freedom of sexuality for all people.”

This was an issue Simon has long campaigned on, asking questions in the Commons of the Prime Minister and the Home Office, as well as writing about the subject in 2008 in The Independent about a constituent who had fled Iran:

The Home Office claims that a gay person can return to Iran and avoid persecution by being “discreet”. All the advice is that in Iran, to be discreet means that you would have to deny your identity. The punishment for giving in to personal feelings might well be nothing less than torture or death. This is clearly a form of discrimination and a serious breach of his human rights. It must now be clear to the Home Office that it is wrong to send back gay and lesbian people to Iran (or any other country with similar laws and practice) where all the evidence shows they will be persecuted.

Less happy with the ruling (surprise, surprise) is that bastion of liberalness the Daily Express which managed to surpass even its own rock-bottom editorial standards today, running this execrable front page.

The Express’s editor Peter Hill was a member of the toothless Press Complaints Commission. He eventually resigned from the PCC following large damages the paper was forced to pay out for publishing a string of false stories about the family of Madeleine McCann.

Read more by or more about , , , , , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

5 Comments

  • Much kudos to Simon Hughes and everyone else who’s campaigned on this – as well as to the Supreme Court.

  • Roger Roberts 20th Oct '10 - 9:38am

    Welcome result but isn’t the Express and its coverage of stories like this totally evil ?

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert



Recent Comments

  • Michael BG
    Currently working people do not pay income tax or national insurance on the first £12,570 that they earn. If these were abolished a person would need a UBI of ...
  • Michael BG
    Simon R, Sorry, I made a mistake in my maths. 2.6 million is only about 7.65% of the working age population; making a total of 11.95%....
  • Michael BG
    Simon R, If a person or family receives an income at the poverty level they are not living in poverty because poverty is below this level. If you don’t ...
  • Michael BG
    Michael Kilpatrick, There were two consultation papers on UBI which included how the £30 billion needed on top of abolishing the Income Tax Personal Allowan...
  • Martin
    In my experience of paying any local government tax – I’ve never seen it reduced ….& no doubt this pen pushers 4 day week won’t make one iota of...