Iranian Lesbian denied
Asylum in Norway
©-LIOW-LB/Enkidu
Foto:
Mette Randem, Dagbladet
On
3rd December 2002, a Norwegian police transport was driving
southwards from Oslo, towards the border to Sweden, headed to the
International Airport in Göteborg. The car had only one passenger in
addition to the officers,; a 37 years old Lesbian woman from Iran. She
had escaped from discrimination, homophobia and years of intimidation in
the Iranian theocracy, and came as a refuge to Norway expecting to find
a civilized society in which human rights are respected, and where she
finally could be herself and live a full life. Her application for a
residence permit in Norway as a refuge was rejected, however, and now
she was on her way be forcefully returned to Iran…
Then
at 13:49, the police transport received a message from the Immigration
Appeal Board ordering them to return to Oslo… The severe criticism
this case had received throughout the Norwegian society in the preceding
weeks, lead the president of the Appeal Board, Kjell Larsen in the very
last minute, to decide to reopen the case again and to establish whether
formal or technical errors had occurred during the evaluation of her
application. Finally the Iranian woman good breath freely again and wipe
of the tears from her cheek. She could return to Oslo. Saved in the last
moment…
When
first evaluating the case, the Norwegian Directorate
of Immigration had been perfectly aware of the difficult conditions
under which openly lesbian women live in Iran and normally refugee
status is automatically given to homosexual Iranians applying to stay in
Norway on humanitarian grounds. It has been the directory’s policy for
years. In this case, however, the application was rejected because the
woman had been married in her home country and was the mother of two
children.
In
an interview with the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published on 4th
December 2002, the Iranian woman said:
“How
can I document having feelings for women and not for men, and the
consequences of this in my home country”. She
further stated that she had been forced to marry as a 17 years old girl.
“If I should lie to be granted asylum, I would have thought out
something less stigmatising. For a believer in Islam, homosexuality is
the lowest of the low”
After
the Directorate of Immigration had rejected her application, she
appealed to the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) and she was in
fact capable of convincing them that she really was Lesbian. However,
they were still not prepared to let her stay in Norway. It was
emphasized that it is possible to live as a Lesbian in Iran, as
long as one stays in the privacy of the home, although they also noted
in their evaluation, that homosexuality indeed is forbidden by law in
Iran and subject to hard punishments. Live here was probably
defined as “maintaining biological life”, “absence of death”…
The
Iranian woman was confronted with two conflicting decisions, and each
equally devastating to her: The directorate did not believe she was
Lesbian since she had been married and wanted to send her back because
she had lied to them. The appeals board believed that she was Lesbian,
but argued that she could live closeted as a Lesbian in Iran, if
she was discrete…
The
woman received a tremendous support and sympathy throughout the
Norwegian society and the contradictory practises of the two government
bodies have been heavily criticized. Two closely related government
bodies should not under any circumstances operate with such conflicting
and divergent criteria. She was therefore, in the last minute, granted
permission to stay in Norway until her case had been revaluated. Her
lawyers Anne Kristine Bohinen and Gunnar Stølsvik took action to
proceed against the ministry of the interior…
Also
Amnesty International supports the woman, arguing that she should be
allowed to stay since it is impossible to live openly as a Lesbian in
Iran. The organisation has been her most outspoken advocate in Norway
and has expressed surprise, outrage and shock that it is possible, that
the two institutions can evaluate a case that differently. John Peder
Egenæs, representative of the Norwegian branch of Amnesty international
underlines that in Iran, homosexuality is forbidden by law and
sanctioned severely when discovered:
“Yet,
the police does not break in peoples’ doors, so one can
live a gay life as long as it is not publicly shown. We find, however,
that one must have the right to be gay in public”
In
February 2003 her case was tried anew in the Oslo Court of Assize. It
was expected that she would indeed be granted asylum this time. Her case
was given much less attention in the media, since now, it was generally
assumed that finally justice would be done… Few doubted that she would
not be granted permission to live in Norway. When interviewed in the
media, even her own lawyer Bohinen emphasized several times that the
decision to try her case again, indicated that the judicial system
functions as I should, despite the scandalous treatment the woman had
received during the first process. The surprise was therefore
overwhelming when the court in the second week of March 2002 pronounced
its sentence after the end of the hearings: The woman, who now was
referred to in the media with the pseudonym Sima lost again.
The
court confirmed the appeal board’s interpretation and agreed that Sima
will not be prosecuted if she hides her sexual identity in Iran. Thus,
if she is sent back, she might be able to maintain life if she is
careful and does not reveal publicly her Lesbian identity and sexual
orientation…
Amnesty
International responded immediately and issued in the following weeks
several press releases on the case. They continue arguing that Sima will
be in danger if she is returned, also because her family knows about her
sexual orientation and has threatened to denounce her to the authorities
at several occasions.
The
conservative newspaper Aftenposten in Oslo inquired about the case
during the proceedings, on 19th February 2003 and again on 11th
March. The directorate of Immigration, the institution that had rejected
Sima’s first application
for asylum because they did not believe that she was Lesbian at all, had
in the meantime convinced themselves that she had not lied about her
orientation after all and was now arguing that if they had known then,
what they know now about her, the application would most likely have
been approved…
Aftenposten
wrote, quoting an interview with Amnesty lawyer Birgit Vinnes, that one
reason for the initial rejection may have been that Sima did not
sufficiently emphasize her sexual orientation during her hearing in the
directory. She might have had difficulties talking about it, even
verbalizing it. Sima seems to have been little convincing about her
sexual orientation and hesitated often when discussing it with the
commission in the directory. In reality she lacked the cultural
competence, the very vocabulary to be able to act as a self-conscious
and open Lesbian before the commission that heard her case. The
commission, lacking the cultural competence to interpret “closeted
behaviour”, therefore assumed that she was making it all up…
Birgit Vinnes says to Aftenposten:
“She
is not used to talk about her sexual orientation. ”Lesbian” is an
almost non-existing word in her language and she was not aware of the
importance of clarifying this”
Leader
of Amnesty’s information department in Oslo emphasized that
this is a matter of principles for the human rights’ organisation.
“We
demand an answer to the question whether homosexuals should be sent back
to a country where they must hide their sexual orientation”
further:
“If
that is the case, it can be said for instance, that communists are
prosecuted in Iraq. Yet, if you are a communist privately and hide it,
there is no danger. Sima’s case is completely parallel to this.”
On 29th April it was announced that
also the last court decision will be appealed to a higher court in Oslo.
Two Norwegian GBLT organisations, LLH and Homocirkus have offered Sima
to guarantee the costs of her process so that money should not be an
obstacle to pursue the case as long as necessary. In a press release,
LLH states that the real matter at stake here, is the individual’s
right to be oneself and show it, without risking prosecution. Enkidu
will keep you updated on further developments in the case.
The Appeal Board, however, continues
to argue that she should be sent back to Iran, arguing that it is not
sufficient reason to be granted residence on humanitarian grounds
because an individual cannot live in their home country exactly the way
he or she can live in Norway… After all, at least 95% or more of the
world population live in societies where the human rights situation
tends to be worse than in Norway, which is a small peripheral country
with less than 5 million inhabitants. It would be impossible to
integrate or support each and every individual who would like to enjoy
the individual liberties and democratic rights granted to Norwegian
citizens. Immigration policies have therefore become increasingly
restrictive in recent years, to the point that it is now almost
impossible for non-Europeans to be granted residency in Norway for any
reason, although it has not had any real effect on the pressure on the
borders. It is expected that soon, further restrictions on immigration
will be issued, regrettably making tragic cases like this one even more
likely to occur in the future.
Sources:
Amnesty reagerer på dom
mot lesbisk iraner
Av michael (12.03.03) http://www.gaysir.no/index.cfm?CID=8344
Oppdatert 19.02.03,
kl 11:49
Frykter for sitt
liv som lesbisk i Iran Lesbiske Sima fra Iran risikerer
utvisning fra Norge. I dag begynner rettssaken som avgjør om hun får
bli. MARIANN
NORDSTRØM
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article.jhtml?articleID=493578
Vil sende lesbisk kvinne
til Iran Av michael (04.12.02) http://www.gaysir.no/index.cfm?CID=8386
Utvisningen av Sima ankes
til lagmannsretten
Av Redaksjonen (29.04.03) http://www.gaysir.no/index.cfm?CID=8459
Amnesty
International, Norway’s coverage of the case: http://www.amnesty.no/web.nsf/pages/4AE8320FDB925F7AC1256CE50039800F
Vil
sende lesbisk kvinne til Iran KRISTIN
GRØNTOFT
Onsdag 4. desember 2002 13:48, oppdatert 15:05 http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/12/04/355487.html
Oppdatert 11.03.03,
kl 11:10
Ber
utlendingsetatene bli enige om lesbisk asylsøker UDI sier at en
lesbisk asyløsker fra Iran bør få bli i Norge. Ankenevnden UNE sier
hun må ut. - Uholdbart, sier departementet og ber partene bli enige.
MARIANN
NORDSTRØM
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article.jhtml?articleID=506204
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Published 19.06.2003
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