The government should declare an immediate moratorium on the deportation of homosexuals to Iran, argues Lib Dem peer Lord Roberts


The case of Mehdi Kazemi demonstrates that a moratorium on the removal of homosexuals to Iran is the only moral course of action.



Getting agreement between politicians of different parties is not always an easy thing to do. However, on 13 March I delivered a letter to the Home Office, signed by 80 peers from all parties, calling on the home secretary to block the deportation of Mehdi Kazemi to Iran. Following this, temporary leave to remain in the UK has been granted.



The Home Office has acted appropriately in this, as indeed it has acted within the law throughout this case. However, this is not simply a legal matter but a moral one too.



While in the UK with a student visa in 2006, Mehdi received the news that his lover had been executed - hanged for his sexuality. This fate, which has been shared by an estimated 4,000 homosexuals in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, will almost certainly be the reality awaiting Mehdi if he is forced to return to Iran. So, for the last two years, Mehdi has been seeking asylum.



Asylum cases must, of course, be conducted and decided according to the law. But when we are making decisions of life or death, we must be aware of the human consequences of the cold letter of the law.



When we are dealing with a country like Iran - one which, in January alone, executed more than 30 people, including one who was lying on a stretcher at the time - we must not make deportations lightly.



Iran is a country where execution can be carried out by stoning and dictates that the stones be large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill immediately. [The method of execution is for the judge to decide]. This is the law of Iran.



As such, we cannot turn to the law of Iran to guide us in this matter. Can we turn to international law? UN safeguards guaranteeing protection rights for those facing the death penalty, clarified in resolution 2005/59 of the Commission on Human Rights, are clear that the death penalty should not be imposed for non-violent acts such as sexual relations between consenting adults.



This offers a clear guideline for action in such cases. Considering that Iran has not adhered to this resolution, we ought not to deport homosexuals to a country where we know they are likely to be executed. This is a matter of avoiding a breach in international law, but more than that it is a matter of not sending a 19-year-old man, who has hurt nobody, to the gallows.



Amnesty International has called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Iran, to be followed by its wholesale abolition. However, this appears exceedingly unlikely.



In this case, there is only one ethical course of action for the British government to take. That is a moratorium on removals to Iran for all those who fear execution. Indeed, the Home Office has gone some way to acknowledge such a principle. Its guidance reads: 'Where an individual claimant demonstrates that their homosexual acts have brought them to the attention of the authorities to the extent that on return to Iran they will face a real risk of punishment, which will be so harsh as to amount to persecution, s/he should be granted refugee status as a member of a particular social group.'



In the case of a young man whose boyfriend has been hanged, it is reasonable to assume that he is at risk of the most extreme persecution. However, the government needs to go further and side with both ethics and international law on this matter, and declare a moratorium on the removal of homosexuals to Iran.



Lord Roberts of Llandudno speaks on international development for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords