UK: Afghan citizen granted asylum for being an atheist

January 14, 2014: an Afghan citizen has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom for religious reasons - because he is an atheist.

The man fled to the UK from a conflict involving his family in Afghanistan in 2007, aged 16, and was allowed to stay in the UK until 2013.

He was brought up a Muslim, but during his time in the UK became an atheist, his legal team said. They said he would face persecution and possibly a death sentence if he was returned to Afghanistan.

The team was from the University of Kent's Law School which offers legal services through its Kent Law Clinic. They believe it is the first time a person has been granted asylum in the UK on the basis of their atheism.

Lawyers lodged a submission to the Home Office under the 1951 Refugee Convention which aims to protect people from persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

They said the man's return to Afghanistan could result in a death sentence under Sharia law as an apostate - someone who has abandoned their religious faith - unless he remained discreet about his atheist beliefs.

“The decision represents an important recognition that a lack of religious belief is in itself a thoughtful and seriously-held philosophical position.” commented Claire Splawn, part of the legal team. She added: "We argued that an atheist should be entitled to protection from persecution on the grounds of their belief in the same way as a religious person is protected."

Source: BBC News, January 14, 2014

EU gay asylum ruling gets divided reception; more than 70 countries make being gay a crime, some apply the death penalty

Luxembourg (AFP) - Gays can seek asylum in the European Union when threatened with jail for same-sex activity, but only when such persecution is "sufficiently serious", Europe's top court ruled on Thursday.

The judgement by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice was seen as divisive, with rights groups differing widely in their reading of what this could mean in practice.

The court found that jail terms for homosexual behaviour could be considered "an act of persecution" warranting asylum.

But it said the threat of persecution must be enforced and "sufficiently serious" with courts in home countries regularly throwing people behind bars.

European lawmakers dubbed the ruling a breakthrough.

But Amnesty International saw it differently, deeming it "a setback" for gay rights.

The court had been asked to consider a case referred by a Dutch court regarding applications for asylum by three men from Sierra Leone, Uganda and Senegal, who all asked for refugee status on the grounds of sexual persecution.

"The existence of a term of imprisonment in the country of origin sanctioning homosexual acts may constitute an act of persecution per se, provided that it is actually applied," the judges ruled.

They also said that the persecution endured by applicants claiming sexual discrimination must be "sufficiently serious by their nature or repetition" to be considered as "a severe violation of basic human rights".

The European Union recognises minimum standards for refugee status based on the violation of fundamental rights. But it is up to individual nations to assess applications as well as judge whether the conditions in the country of origin are harsh enough to merit granting asylum.

Under the ruling, a gay applicant would have to show he or she was "unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country".

The head of a European Parliament group on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, British Socialist MEP Michael Cashman, said the court had reached a "landmark decision, and the right one".

He said governments now had clear guidance and should act "so that our asylum procedures become more accommodating of the terrible realities people flee".

But Amnesty International said judges had "skirted around" the realities and called the ruling a "missed opportunity".

More than 70 countries still make being gay or lesbian a crime.

According to a 2013 map on gay and lesbian rights produced by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), Sierra Leone and Uganda enforce prison terms of up to a life sentence for gays, while Senegal imposes terms up to 14 years.

Countries that apply the death penalty include Mauritania, Sudan and parts of Nigeria and Somalia, the ILGA says.

However, the room for maneouvre left with national authorities within the EU when assessing asylum applications on such grounds is likely to mean different answers in different EU states.

"The court should have found that these laws, even when they have not recently been applied in practice are capable of giving rise to a well-founded fear of persecution," said Livio Zilli, senior legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, in the Amnesty statement.

As well as leaving scope for different treatment across the EU's 28 member states, the court also said it was "not reasonable" for asylum seekers to have concealed their homosexuality in their countries of origin if pressing claims on the grounds of persecution.

Source: Agence France-Presse, November 7, 2013

U.S. assures Russia no death penalty for Snowden

Eric Holder tells his Russian counter party Snowden would be tried in a civilian court.

Attorney General Eric Holder has appealed to Russia to extradite NSA leaker Edward Snowed by assuring Moscow that the U.S. would try him in a civilian court, would not seek the death penalty and would not torture him.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, again ruled out extradition for the 30-year-old former defense contractor, RT.com reports.

The promises came in a letter from Holder to his Russian counterpart, Justice Minister Vladimirovich Konovalov.

"The charges he faces do not carry that possibility, and the United States would not seek the death penalty even if Mr. Snowden were charged with additional death penalty-eligible crimes," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to Russian Minister of Justice Vladimirovich Konovalov.

In addition, Holder said that would be tried in a civilian court and "would not be tortured."

In the past, Russia has cited the prospect of capital punishment as a factor in its decision not to turn Snowden over to the U.S.

"We believe that these assurances eliminate these asserted grounds for Mr.Snowden's claim that he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise," Holder wrote.

A copy of the letter was released by the Justice Department on Friday.

The letter came amid discussions about the Snowden case between FBI director Robert Mueller and FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov, RT.com reported..

Despite the flurry of activity, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said Friday that "Russia has never extradited anyone, and will not extradite," according to RT.com.

The spokesman also said he is certain that the former defense contractor, who has applied for asylum in Russia, will stop harming Washington with leaks or new revelations about the National Security Agency if allowed to stay in Russia

Peskov said that if Snowden, through his actions, should undermine Moscow's ties with Washington, "the head of state (Putin) has expressed strong determination not to allow this."

Snowden argued in his application for temporary asylum in Russia that he "he faces persecution by the U.S. government and he fears for his life and safety,"according to his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. 

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Source: USA Today, July 26, 2013

Julian Assange: UK rejects death penalty claim

Mr Assange has been at Ecuador's London embassy since June

Claims Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could face the death penalty in the US are "without foundation", Foreign Secretary William Hague has indicated.

Ecuador has granted Mr Assange asylum as he fights extradition from the UK to Sweden over sex assault allegations.

Mr Hague told MPs the UK and Sweden would seek assurances about his human rights if a "third country" sought to try him for disclosing documents.

He called for further meetings with Ecuador to resolve the row.

Mr Assange, a 41-year-old Australian citizen, denies assaulting 2 women in Stockholm in 2010 and says the sex was consensual.

Death penalty safeguards

Swedish prosecutors, who want to question Mr Assange, have dismissed his claims that their case is part of a wider political move to see him stand trial in the US over his work with Wikileaks.

Mr Assange has said he fears he could face the death penalty if convicted in the US, but BBC correspondents say the Human Rights Act prevents the UK or Sweden from being able to extradite people for trial in countries where they could face such a sentence.

And in a written statement to Parliament, Mr Hague said: "As we have discussed with the government of Ecuador, the United Kingdom and Sweden robustly implement and adhere to the highest standards of human rights protection.

"The suggestion that Mr Assange's human rights would be put at risk by the possibility of onward extradition from Sweden to a third country is also without foundation.

"In practice, this means that the United Kingdom could only consent to Mr Assange's onward extradition from Sweden to a third country if satisfied that extradition would be compatible with his human rights, and that there was no prospect of a death sentence being imposed or carried out."

Supreme Court rejection

Mr Assange has been staying at Ecuador's London embassy since June.

The UK Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period - during which he entered the embassy in Knightsbridge, west London - before proceedings could start.

Mr Hague said suggestions that extradition to Sweden posed a risk to Assange's human rights were also "completely unfounded" and had been "comprehensively rejected" by UK courts.

He added there was "no legal basis" for the government to accept Ecuador's decision to grant Mr Assange asylum and allow him safe passage out of the UK.

The foreign secretary said there had been 7 formal discussions as well as many other conversations and written exchanges with Ecuador in an attempt to reach an acceptable resolution.

Most recently, Mr Hague had a meeting with Ecuador's Vice-President, Lenin Moreno, on 29 August in London, during his visit to the Paralympics.

Mr Hague said: "We wish to continue our dialogue with the government of Ecuador. We believe that our two countries should be able to find a diplomatic solution.

"We have invited the government of Ecuador to resume, as early as possible, the discussions we have held on this matter to date."

A spokesman for the Ecuadorian government in London said Mr Hague's statement only partially addressed its concerns and did not "specifically" refer to the US.

"While we accept that there are provisions in the European Human Rights Convention that stops the extradition of a suspect if they face the death penalty, what the UK government have failed to address over the last 3 months, including today, is the inhumane treatment that Mr Assange would face were he to be extradited to the USA, including solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, limited access to legal representatives and punitive sentencing should he be found guilty in a military of special court," he said.

"If the UK provided these basic human rights guarantees then we believe that there would be a quick, fair and honourable solution to the present impasse."

Source: BBC News, Sept. 4, 2012

Sweden: If Assange faces death row in US we won’t extradite him

The Swedish government will not extradite Assange to the US should he face the death penalty there, as any possible extradition request from Washington is then subject to strict conditions, an official from the country’s Justice Ministry declared.

­“We will never surrender a person to the death penalty,” the deputy director of the Service for Criminal Cases and International Cooperation of Sweden’s Justice Ministry said in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper on Tuesday.

This means there should be strict guarantees from the US government that “the prisoner will not be executed in any case,” added Cecilia Riddselius. But, she added, so far her country has not received any extradition request from Washington.

In June, Cecilia Riddselius admitted there were opportunities for countries to request different types of guarantees in relation to extradition. Sweden may request that an extradited person will not be sentenced to the death penalty, he or she will not be tortured, should not be prosecuted for offences other than those which he or she was delivered for and not to be charged before a special court.

However, Riddselius then stressed, Sweden cannot guarantee in advance that Assange will not be extradited.

The WikiLeaks founder is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual misconduct. He and his supporters, however, fear that if extradited to Sweden, he may be further extradited to the United States, where he could then face the death penalty for espionage following the publication of thousands of classified documents, including secret cables of the US State Department.

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Source: rt.com, August 21, 2012

North Korea: Four refugees deported by China publicly executed

June 25, 2012: North Korea has publicly executed four refugees who were repatriated by China and sent 40 others to its notorious prison camps, a South Korean activist said.

China has repatriated 44 fugitives from its communist neighbor in recent months, said Kim Heung-Kwang, who heads NK Intellectuals Solidarity, a Seoul-based defectors’ group.

Four of them were executed and 40 sent to camps for political prisoners, he told a seminar.

South Korean rights groups say there are six political prison camps in the North holding around 200,000 detainees.

Kim said he had obtained his information from a source inside the North, but gave no details.

The South’s unification ministry, which is in charge of cross-border affairs, declined to comment.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans looking to escape hunger or repression in their communist homeland have fled in recent years. Virtually all cross the border to China, which repatriates those fugitives it catches.

Beijing says they are economic migrants rather than refugees, a policy criticized by international rights groups.

The refugees often travel on from China to southeast Asian countries, hoping to fly from there to South Korea. Last week 19 refugees were arrested in Thailand on charges of illegal entry.

Sources: Agence France-Presse, June 26, 2012

Saudi prince accused of killing servant 'could face death penalty in home country over gay sex life'

A Saudi prince accused of murdering his servant could face the death penalty in his home country over his alleged gay sex life, a court heard today.

Homosexuality is illegal under Saudi Arabia's sharia law code, an Old Bailey jury trying Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud was told.

At times the families of defendants in such cases have pushed for the most severe penalty because of the perceived shame, the court heard.

Saud, 34, is accused of killing 32-year-old Bandar Abdulaziz during a ferocious attack with a 'sexual element' in February.

Two male escorts are alleged to have performed sex acts on the prince at the Landmark hotel in central London where he and Mr Abdulaziz were staying.

John Kelsey-Fry QC, defending, has denied suggestions that the two men were in a gay relationship.

Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting, said: 'Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and carries the death penalty which is still applied in some cases.

'The country in which any alleged acts took place would have little bearing on the likelihood of prosecution as the Saudi legal system is based on the sharia law which is considered to be universal.

'Whether the defendant would be prosecuted is a matter for the Saudi authorities but would to some extent depend on the wishes of his family.

'There have been cases where the family have pushed for the most severe penalty, particularly where the individual is thought to have brought shame on the family.

'The defendant could be at risk from members of his own family who may feel that he has brought shame on the family.

'He could also be at risk from members of the victim's family, although as he is a member of the Saudi royal family this risk would be reduced.

'Saudi Arabian nationals have in the past applied for and been granted asylum in the United Kingdom on the basis that they are homosexual and would be at risk of prosecution - and potentially the death penalty - or harm if they returned to Saudi Arabia.'

Mr Kelsey-Fry said the Saudi law as described in the admissions to the court read out by Miss Cheema would only apply 'if it were the case that the defendant had engaged in homosexuality'.

Saud denies murder and a second charge if grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to an earlier alleged assault in a hotel lift.

Source: dailymail.co.uk, October 15, 2010