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Iranian Lesbian Wins Asylum in Britain

Refugee fled after girlfriend sentenced to death by stoning

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 16, 2009 6:07 AM CST

(Newser) – A woman who fled Iran for Britain after her girlfriend was arrested has won her battle for asylum in the UK. In 2007 Pegah Emambakhsh was refused asylum, but gay rights groups claimed that she would be executed if she was forced to return to Iran and led a campaign to overturn the ruling. She is the second gay Iranian to receive asylum in Britain—last year a 20-year-old who faced a death sentence was allowed to remain.

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Gay rights proponents rally for Pegah Emambakhsh, an Iranian lesbian, in a protest Monday outside the British embassy, in Rome, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

An Iranian lesbian who had originally lost her asylum case has been granted the right to remain in Britain. (©James Willamor)

Britain's home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and prime minister, Gordon Brown. Smith agreed to reconsider the case of Pegah Emambakhsh, a lesbian who has won asylum in Britain after fleeing Iran. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

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I will never, never go back. If I do, I know I will die. - Pegah Emambakhsh, who fled Iran after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death by stoning

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Iranian Lesbian Wins Asylum in Britain