by Keith Richmond
GOVERNMENT ministers Harriet Harman and Barbara Follett have been accused of reneging on an undertaking to intervene in cases where lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender asylum seekers are being treated unfairly by the Home Office.
The accusation, by Peter Tatchell of the LGBT human rights group Outrage, follows the deportation on September 20 of Babakhan Badalov, the radical artist and poet who fled homophobic persecution in Azerbaijan.
Mr Tatchell, who led the campaign to keep Mr Badalov in Britain, said: “The deportation of Babi Badalov shows that the complaints mechanism is worthless. Deporting him back to Azerbaijan was heartless and reckless. His life is now in danger.”
Because of his sexuality, and because his art and poetry is critical of the government in Azerbaijan, Mr Badalov was persecuted and his work was suppressed. He fled to Britain in 2006 and was living in Cardiff, writing poetry and working on a film about the rise of Muslim fundamentalism.
Mr Badalov was deported despite being in the process of filing a new asylum claim with fresh evidence – including threats to kill him by one of his own brothers on the grounds that he had brought shame upon his family by coming out as gay.
Mr Tatchell said: “The Azerbaijani police are unable to protect him. In the circumstances, his removal should have been put on hold until he had an opportunity to put forward his new evidence to an asylum tribunal.”
