Obama Administration Denies Asylum To Gay Saudi Diplomat

Ali Ahmad Asseri, the former first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles,California was denied political asylum by the Obama Administration last week, reportedly to avoid disrupting US-Saudi relations.

Ths Saudi government yanked his diplomatic passport after his sexual orientation and a friendship with an Israeli woman in Los Angeles became known.

Asseri's argument was that he cannot return to Saudi Arabia because under the country's sharia law same sex relations are a capital offense and he would face execution.

Asseri claimed that the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles found out he was gay after having him followed when he went out to socialize at gay bars.

Saudi-American journalist and blogger Rasheed Abou-Alsamh who has written for the Washington Times and blogs over at Rasheed's World was the first one to break the story.

One of his sources claims that Asseri's initial interview with Homeland Security went well, but that things took a turn for the worse after the DHS found out that Asseri had been a public prosecutor in Saudi Arabia, overseeing punishments like lashing, judicial amputations and decapitations.

As a side note, homosexuals are not always executed in Saudi Arabia as they are in Iran and other Islamic sharia jurisdictions. Sometimes they are merely lashed severely and imprisoned. But the possibility of execution is a real one, especially because Asseri is a fairly high profile individual as a former member of the Saudi diplomatic corps.

Another problematic factor is that the Consulate discovered that Asseri had become friends with an Israeli Jewish woman in Los Angeles. The Kingdom does not recognize Israel, has the traditional Muslim attitude towards Jews generally, and promotes hatred for Jews in its schools,mosques and state-controlled media.

Asseri is planning to appeal the decision, so things could stretch out for a couple of years before there's an actual decision.

I hope that homosexuals planning to vote for President Obama are paying attention.


(Vielen dank an meinen guten freund Benny W., reporter extraordinaire! )

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!