Source: UK Gay News
LONDON, December 24, 2007  –  It was not the Christmas present that a young gay Iranian wanted.

A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Mehdi, the gay Iranian teenager, has to be returned to the United Kingdom, where he faces deportation back to Iran. [prior story]

He fled England last spring when a Home Office tribunal dismissed his appeal against deportation.

“I was refused the right to appeal of asylum in the Netherlands because of the Dublin Treaty,” he said by telephone this afternoon.

The Dublin Treaty, or Convention, is a European Union law that prevents asylum applicants from applying in multiple members states.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed at judge’s decision.

“My lawyer is making a final appeal to the Netherlands High Court,” he added.

Mehdi, who is 19, said that he was worried that the early decision from the court – the decision was expected to be handed down early in the New Year – meant that his deportation to the UK would be made over the holiday period.

“My main fear at the moment is that the UK Home Office would disregard appeals and send me back to Iran before any offices reopened after the holiday,” he said.

The young Iranian said he is frightened that he will be executed if he is return to Iran.

Before leaving Iran in 2004 to continue his education in England -- he had a student visa issued by the UK authorities, Mehdi had a boyfriend.  It was while he was in the UK, he learned that the Iranian authorities had arrested his boyfriend, who had given interrogators Mehdi’s name before being executed

Full article: Christmas Gift from Netherlands for Gay Iranian – One Way Ticket to UK