16 February 2009 - The South East’s Green MEP has welcomed a Home Office decision to grant Iranian lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh asylum in the UK, and paid tribute to the hundreds of people who had contacted the Home Office, as well as individual MPs and MEPs, to stop her deportation.

Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, who is also Leader of the Green Party, said:

"I am delighted that Pegah has finally been granted refugee status in the UK after a strong campaign that has lasted almost four years.

"The Home Office has reached the right decision; it’s just a shame that Pegah was made to wait so long for an agreement. It would have been irresponsible and inhumane to deport her to Iran where she faced severe discrimination - even execution - simply on the basis of her sexuality.

"This decision, as well as that made in the case of gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi in May last year, clearly demonstrates that the Home Office is prepared to recognise sexual orientation as an appropriate reason to grant asylum. The Government must now ensure that it maintains consistency in all future cases and speeds up its processes to grant asylum to LGBT people who face persecution in their home countries.

"Furthermore, the international community must exert ever greater pressure on Iran to fully meet international human rights standards by ending all discrimination against LGBT citizens."

Dr Lucas MEP also highlighted the importance of a European Commission statement earlier this month which confirmed that there is "an obligation on Member States to grant refugee status to persons who…. are found to have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group, including a group based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation."

ENDS