Bisexuality a result of detention, detainee told

This is the same Ali whose story is already blogged here



Ali Humayun, right, with his partner … he fears deportation.

From today's Sydney Morning Herald, sourced at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/bisexuality-a-result-of-detention-detainee-told/2007/05/08/1178390312281.html

Story by Erik Jensen

May 9, 2007

A MAN seeking asylum on the grounds that he would be persecuted as a bisexual Christian in Pakistan was denied refugee status because authorities ruled he was bisexual only as a result of being locked up with other men.

Giles Short, the Refugee Review Tribunal member who made the decision, said in his finding: "the applicant was not in fact bisexual … [his relationship] was simply the product of the situation where only partners of the same sex were available and said nothing about his sexual orientation."

He said this was the case in many relationships in prisons and detention centres.

In evidence to the tribunal, Ali Humayun said he and his partner had discussed marriage. But Mr Short dismissed this as "a contrived attempt to make their relationship appear more serious".

His findings were upheld by the Federal Magistrates Court on February 19, which said the decision on Mr Humayun's sexuality had been a "finding of fact".

Mr Humayun came to Australia in 2000 to study information technology and has spent more than two years in Villawood Detention Centre. He said he began his first same-sex relationship before entering the centre. At the time of his tribunal hearing, he identified as bisexual, but now said he was gay.

Mr Humayun says he is the only openly gay detainee at Villawood - his partner has been granted asylum. He says he is persecuted daily by detainees, but fears worse in Pakistan. "I'm worried for my life if I am deported home," he said. "The men in my family, they are really fundamentalist types. Muslims. My lifestyle is totally in contrast to what they believe."

Pakistani civil law punishes gay sex with jail terms of between two years and life. Under Islamic law, homosexuals can face 100 lashes or death by stoning.

Mr Humayun said he converted to Christianity after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The tribunal rejected that claim on the grounds that he could not answer questions such as naming the first four books of the New Testament, and had not actively pursued the religion in detention.

Mr Humayun was detained after he was caught working on a bridging visa. His appeal for asylum has been rejected by the Department of Immigration and the tribunal. He is writing to the Minister for Immigration, Kevin Andrews, requesting he intervene on humanitarian grounds.

The Greens senator Kerry Nettle, who met Mr Humayun on Friday, said she would raise the case with the minister. She was concerned Mr Humayun was in a part of Villawood usually reserved for people with criminal records. "It's like a prison," she said. "All of the other detainees have been convicted of criminal offences, apart from him."

Mr Humayun said he was moved when guards received an anonymous, hand-written note saying he was planning to escape. He said he asked to see the note, but it was never shown to him.

A tribunal spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality provisions in the Migration Act. Mr Andrews was unavailable for comment.

In 2003 the High Court ruled that a Bangladeshi couple should not be deported as they would face persecution for being gay.

Mr Humayun said: "I am hopeful, but at this stage I have realistic expectations. I don't expect to be getting out soon."