Proof positive, if you ever needed it, of how hollow Britain’s Human Rights rhetoric is. Thanks to damaia for the link.
Remember all those exhortations for intervention in Afghanistan – how Cherie Blair et al bollocked on about saving women from a repressive fundamentalist regime. Remember, more recently, all the hand-wringing when the riots kicked off in Tehran – the dreadful abuse of democratic rights in Iran. David “Crush the Chagos Islanders” Miliband in sombre, lecturing mode. Oh, we were all so concerned.
Well, it seems that when it comes to actually saving the life of one real Iranian woman and democrat, it’s all just a bit too much hassle. Asylum denied, fuck off home.
Never mind that we’re spending billions out of an empty public purse and hundreds of young men’s lives, all supposedly in the fight for exactly this kind of freedom. Never mind that young Iranians like Kiana Firouz, in sufficient numbers, are very likely the only viable antidote to fundamentalism (because bombing the shit out of people and then invading them hasn’t been real successful so far) Never mind that in these video-obsessed times, a film-maker is just about the perfect candidate for the job of cultural change-maker.
And never mind that old adage of practice what you fucking preach.
No. We’re the coalition of the willing, mate. You’ll know when we’ve liberated you from oppression, because you and your family will be dead in shattered pieces and your country will be a smoking ruin. ’til then? Hey, suck it up – we’ve got immigration quotas to wrestle down.
And where can you read about this travesty of justice? Well, not in the quality UK press, that’s for sure. I’ve scoured the broadsheet websites and the BBC, and there’s nothing, nada, no single mention of Kiana Firouz at all.
But you can catch it on Lady GaGa’s site forum.
So now I’m worried. When I have to cross the Atlantic and dig around in pop culture sites to get UK news I should have picked up on the front page of the Guardian, the Telegraph or the Independent, there is something seriously wrong with our Fourth Estate. I mean, the last ten years, you expect this kind of shit from rags like the New York Times or the Washington Post (War in Iraq? Hey, sounds cool to us! Yay!). But I had this naive faith in the British broadsheet press and the BBC, that between them they were still doing something approaching a decent job.
Oh well – in the meantime, there’s this form letter that you can print off and mail to the British home office. And if any of you take any of the British broadsheets on a regular basis, it might be worth mailing their editor to ask what the fuck they think they’re playing at.
Want to strike a blow against repressive fundamentalism. Here’s your chance. Because the British government sure as shit isn’t going to do it for you.
Letter printed/shared on FB. Does Amnesty Int’l know about her case?
As much as I love to see my name on the screen, “damaia” provided the link. Although I’m in the States, I am going to write to your British broadsheets about this serous omission.
Tweeted and will send the letter on to the home office too.
Asylum stories like this always depress me.
Richard
@ Amelia (and damaia)
Oops – sorry. Will be changed.
Not a problem at all- I’m just glad to see this getting out there and reaching people, where it belongs.
Re-writing the form letter in your own words might be the best thing to do, and anybody interested could almost certainly ask why terrorist suspects are kept owing to humanitarian rights whereas Kiana Firouz faced being expelled.
Politicians aren’t phased by being labeled hypocrites anymore. Sent a letter even though I read none of those papers. Aggregate news compilers are my friend in this day and age.
Thanks for letting us know about this – I’m doing my meager bit to spread the word. It’s really stunning sometimes what is and isn’t seen as newsworthy. I’m lucky to have access to places like this where people do care about human rights and political accountability.
Unfortunately, the UK had seemed to have a one-out-one-in immigration policy for a while now. I remember spending a few thousand pounds in applications and appeals when I was trying to get in, until they finally let me (and here I thought my home country/Croatia/ was something to get the hell out of for various political shenanigans). They must have kicked someone out and I got in.
As for this… fuck. Not something you’d expect to see in, say, Daily Mail, what with their religious crowd of nationalist bastards, but somewhere, just somewhere, where it could easily reach the public! Then again, from the state of the teens these days, I guess Lady Gaga forum is as good a place as any. Sadly enough.
The problem is the lack of independent media in the UK. All the newspapers are owned and controlled by powerful organisations or individuals. They are deciding what we find out about; added to that the death of investigative journalism in general.
So what are you advocating Richard?
- military intervention in Iran.
- covert action against the Iranian government.
- sanctions on the Iranian government.
- a strongly worded letter from William Hague.
@ Peter
Yeah, you’re right – on closer inspection, I noticed this was written by a non-native speaker (or someone in a hurry) and there are some small errors in the grammar. I took the bulk of it, plus the arguments I made above about fighting fundamentalism, and wrote my own version. Variety of response should also help prevent the eyes-glaze-over response.
But the real trick here will be to get the mainstream press on the case. I’m still busy mailing outraged demands for an explanation to the various editorial e-mail boxes at the Guardian et al. See what happens….
Without seeing the written decision of the decision maker of her asylum application it’s hard to make any judgment about whether the rejection of her application was correct. Bear in mind that although laws are made by politicians, they are not applied (in the most part) by them, but by (in the most part) an independent judiciary (or in this case, quasi-judiciary). I’ve looked around a bit but cannot find any details as to the reasons for the rejection of her application. @ LindaP – there was nothing written about her in Amnesty’s last magazine and I can’t find anything relating to her on their website.
Some good news – there’s finally a mainstream press article on this (in the Times), and something at the Independent, albeit in the Comment section rather than as a straight news report. But still, it seems something is building here. Protests outside the British embassy in Washington as well…..
So glad this has been brought to my attention, emailed my own letter to the home office, socially networked it, encouraged others to do the same. Perfect example of the ridiculously tragic hypocrisy of rejecting individuals into our country, who stand for and uphold the very values we go off and start wars in the name of.
Makes me sick.
Thanks to everyone who’s become involved; it’s nice to know that at least some of us have working human hearts.
@ Ravs
Thanks for checking this out – good to have a lawyer on the case
Seriously, though, I once knew a woman who worked for immigration, and some of the horror stories she told me about her colleagues were unbelievable. And the problem is with any bureaucracy (with any systematised organisation at all, really), once a bad decision has been made, there’s always more likelihood of closed ranks and refusal to reconsider than there is of a genuine enquiry into whether the decision in question was wrong.
I sent an email to Democracy Now (Democracynow.org) and asked if they could do a story about her. Perhaps if they receive enough emails they’ll do it. Besides sending a letter to the British Home Secretary, is there an email address we could inundate them with? Will the British Gov’t respond if enough people complain, or will they really close ranks and refuse to reconsider?
@ Dave
I assumed Richard was advocating a reversal of the decision to refuse her asylum. That would be a simple way to, well, save her from 300 lashes and a public hanging.
Interesting. On Question Time last night, the issue came up about a deportation case in which two Pakistani nationals in Britain who (the intelligence services say) had links with Al-Q were allowed to remain in the UK on the grounds that they were likely to face persecution if they were deported to Pakistan. Ming Campbell was on the panel. In talking generally about the subject he mentioned a number of reasons as to why people might be persecuted when returned to their own country and either as an aftertought, or for emphasis, the last reason he gave was sexual orientation (although he did not mention Kiana’s case by name). So hopefully the message is getting through.
@Hal
“I assumed Richard was advocating a reversal of the decision to refuse her asylum. That would be a simple way to, well, save her from 300 lashes and a public hanging.”
The problem with that Hal, is it doesn’t tackle the problem. It just provides an out for one “famous” person. It doesn’t show support for all the thousands of men and women persecuted on sexuality. It’s special case politics which I cannot stand. It also creates precedent in UK asylum law, which would open the UK to hundreds of thousands of applications. While I sympathise with this case, I see the reason behind the UK governments decision.
The truth is that most of the world doesn’t share our enlightened sensibilities on sexual orientation, actually I am not sure that the majority of UK population even share those. So unless Nick Clegg can convince the “Call me Dave” to change asylum policy I would say there no chance of a reversal.
Also, that letter in the link is addressed to the wrong person, Theresa May is now home secretary. I wonder what her take on it is, given her previous voting record?
@Fitz
Oh, didn’t you hear? She’s seen the light now! *laughs into sleeve*
Sent another letter, addressed to May this time.
Oddly enough, I have some small grounds for hope with this woman. She has, after all, put the judicial review of Gary McKinnon’s case on hold pending a reconsideration – which shows a (in these times) remarkable willingness to stand up to US unilateralism and heavy-handed American law enforcement practices – better anyway than the craven assume-the-position compliance we’ve had from Bliar and Milliband.
Got a letter back from the UK Border Agency!
“Thank you for your letter about the immigration matters of Kiana Firouz. Your support has been noted and your letter will be attached to the personal case file for any further consideration of the case.”
Formulaic, but at least the noise seems to be getting through………
Hi,
found another website campaining for Kiana Firouz, emails are addressed to Theresa May.
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/savekianafirouz?js=true
Luisa,
Thank you for the website and email address! I’ve just sent an email and will follow up with snail mail.
I thought you should know that I read about Kiana issue here only, and took action as a result. Thank you for your post.
How Prejudice can a country be? So much for her happy ending..
“And the problem is with any bureaucracy (with any systematised organisation at all, really), once a bad decision has been made, there’s always more likelihood of closed ranks and refusal to reconsider than there is of a genuine enquiry into whether the decision in question was wrong.”
Richard would systematised organisations include societies in general? I certainly would include them considering the clanism, the ‘look at them over there they’re so f*cking barbaric’ (makes us look and feel better for being such pathetic creatures). I see and experience this every day of my life, I live caged in by these so called civilised f*ckers, this is the problem with civilisation a big guilt complex, the monsters in their souls, the naturally way for most is to not look at themselves in the mirror, and this makes the monster stronger.
edit: make that monsters.
Glad to hear she gets to stay. So what about Iran? That seems to be the real problem. Not the UK asylum board/judiciary or whatever it is that decides cases. The Iranian government has shown that it is culpable in much of what leads to an individual being granted asylum in another country. Maybe take all of those in charge in Iran, execute them then see what happens after that. Then do it again if necessary. And again, and again and again…. that will be the trend I believe. Of course we could just agree to accept that Iran isn’t at fault, it is that pesky and meddling USA and its western accomplices that are the reason people get tortured in Iran. Really. It isn’t the guy working the whip across the backs and faces of so many deviants in Iran. It was all brought about by the selfish pursuit of national goals by western nations.
Like I said to begin with. Glad she gets to stay.
The rain in London beats torture/execution any day.
Hey Jim – good to hear from you again. Thanks for your help in tracking Captain Dickerson who, I’m delighted to say, was hale and hearty last time I checked
Solutions for Iran: while personally, I would cheerfully put a bullet in the back of Ahmadinejad’s head, and likewise Khameni and his flock of bearded crows, this isn’t really a viable means of change; top down outside interference never works – as if we lacked for previous lessons, Afghanistan and Iraq both have taught us this yet again. Outside intervention just rallies internal unity in the face of perceived external aggression and makes significant social change impossible. And despite your intended irony, the current Iranian regime is largely a product of British and US meddling in Iranian affairs post WW2. But the problem with these things is that they often take decades or even generations to show, and then the current generation can’t get their head around the root causes and writes it off to “those crazy rag-heads” or “corrupt third worlders” or some similarly convenient dismissive shorthand.
What excites me about saving Firouz is that, as I said in the original post, she’s exactly the sort of person who’ll form part of an unstoppable internal wave for change at grassroots level. But that wave has to be built with patience, one glass of water at a time. Iran is a proud nation with a sense of itself extending back thousands of years, but it is also a nation in which a huge proportion of the population are young people; in the long term this is going to make the position of the clerics and assorted assholes in charge untenable – but only if young Iranians are given the space to breathe. As it is, Ahmadinejad can milk the thousand year pride by pointing to undeniable failures in western geopolitical behaviour and using them to build a siege mentality which crushes any aspiration for change. if we back off, nurture people like Firouz, live up to our human rights rhetoric for a change, then we empower liberal aspiration in places like Iran, and sooner or later the change comes about because the repression simply cannot keep the dam wall intact. We saw this in 1989 across eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and compared to those regimes, Iran has a vibrant and vocal political life. We simply have to win the Hearts and Minds war, and we won’t do that with top down intervention and military force – however emotionally satisfying that might be for us in the short term.