Did political reasons block U.S. asylum for gay Saudi diplomat?
A gay Saudi diplomat has been denied US asylum in what observes believe is a political move.
Arab news website Rasheed’s World quotes a Saudi dissident living in Washington DC Ali al-Ahmed:
“This was a political decision by the Obama administration, who are afraid of upsetting the Saudis. His initial interview with [the Department for Homeland Security (DHS)] was very positive, but then they came back and grilled him for two days after they found out that he had worked in the public prosecutor’s office in Saudi Arabia.”
“He had been an inspector to make sure that judicial punishments, such as lashings, were carried out within the law—not more, not less. They then accused him of participating in a form of torture,” explained Ahmed.
Ali Ahmed Asseri,was the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. It was reported last year that he told US officials that his diplomatic passport was not renewed after Saudi officials discovered him going to gay bars and that he was close friends with a Jewish woman. He had also posted a critical note on a Saudi website, it was reported, and threatened to make public embarrassing information on members of the Saudi royal family living in the US.
Last year Ally Bolour, his lawyer, told NBC that other Saudis had been granted asylum by the US on grounds of sexual orientation, but Asseri’s case was unusual because of his diplomatic status. Another gay Saudi asylum case was approved quickly in Dallas in September this year.
Only last month, according to a news brief published by the Emirates website 24 / 7, twenty gay men were arrested in Saudi Arabia during a wedding celebration, and over 200 other “wanted persons were also seized”.
The news comes at the same time that the White House has announced that a new federal working group tasked with a system-wide review of pending deportations will include an LGBT liaison, DHS executive secretary Philip A. McNamara. However the report says that this will be solely to oversee cases involving same-sex binational couples. They are denied equal citizen sponsorship rights under the Defense of Marriage Act.
The liaison will reportedly not cover asylum cases, and there has also been disquiet over the treatment of other deportation cases not involving couples, particularly those of young LGBT who might qualify under a DREAM Act. The movement in support of that has many young LGBT in its leadership.
As well there are significant issues with the mistreatment of LGBT in detention. At the end of last month Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed more complaints with DHS of inhuman, degrading and in some cases life-threatening treatment of LGBT detainees.
Ali al-Ahmed said that the gay Saudi asylum seeker Asseri is planning to appeal the decision, and that this process could extend for several years.
LGBT Asylum News urges action today for LGBT asylum seekers and asks activists to encourage friends and contacts to visit website for details or to check on any updates to this story.
To read the original story or to check for updates, click HERE.
Related articles
- Video: LGBT immigrants ‘come out’ at US Netroots Nation conference (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
- Has Obama administration moved to stop break up of bi-national same-sex families? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
- Why is Arizona shacking, isolating gay, raped immigration detainees? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
- LGBT asylum
- LGBT Asylum News
- LGBT issues
- Obama administration
- Paul Canning
- Saudi Arabia
- White House
