Behnam: Fighting deportation

I received this, via Arieh:

Dear all,

I would like to draw attention to a petition on behalf of a family from Iran, seeking asylum in the UK. The older boy, Behnam, a brilliant 19-year-old artist, now at Central St Martins College of Art Design, is a former student of mine and the family are now close friends of mine.

They are wonderful people whose lives will be at great risk if they are returned to Iran. Themother and older son have been sentenced to prison and told they face a brutal punishment of lashes - because, as an act of kindness, they let two teenage schoolfriends stay in their flat in Tehran while the family were living in London. Those boys were arrested, having allegedly been printing anti-regime leaflets - this led to the arrest of the woman's husband at Tehran Airport in 2005 and the subsequent sentences in absentia on her and Behnam.

If you live in the UK and have not already signed Behnam's petition please sign the online petition, and encourage others to do so.*

Thanks for your support,
Pauline Levis
Cordinator Behnam and Family Must Stay Campaign

*The petition's full url is: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/talented-young-artist-and-family-under-threat-of-deportation-to-iran.html

Article by Pauline Levis here. On-line petition here. IRR article here. Camden New Journal article here.

More: Worker's Liberty anti-deportation campaigns page.
Keywords: Behnam Askari