November 08-2013
An Irish judge has said an Iranian who claims he was homosexually raped by a police officer’s son in Iran must be considered for refugee status in Ireland.
The unnamed Iranian was earlier refused refugee status by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which now must reconsider the case in light of the judge’s ruling.
The Iranian claimed he feared he would be persecuted for his gay sexual orientation if sent back to Iran by Ireland.
The Irish Times reported that Mr. Justice Colm MacEochaidh said the Tribunal erred in how the tribunal member decided he did not believe the applicant was either gay or had been raped by a neighbor whose father was a colonel in the Iranian police.
The 36-year-old applicant claimed he was blackmailed into the rape at the neighbor’s apartment after the neighbor threatened he would tell a lie to his police officer father to the effect the applicant had given him a gay pornographic DVD.
The applicant also alleged that, while he was being raped, the neighbor’s father had appeared on the scene and attacked him and later showed the applicant’s mother a picture of the rape taken on the police officer’s phone.
The judge said he found it “particularly difficult to comprehend” how the applicant’s claim to be an unwilling participant in the alleged rape incident could have been undermined by him also saying he knew the alleged rapist and had made suggestive overtures to him in the past.
The tribunal had also mis-characterized evidence from a gay witness who knew the applicant for five years and who had said he was “absolutely convinced” the applicant “is not a straight man,” the judge found.