“A human rights policy wins once more” June 17th, 2010. Tonight we received official confirmation that Kiana Firouz, the lesbian filmmaker and activist who escaped from Iran, her homeland, in 2008 and who took refuge in the United Kingdom, has finally been granted asylum.

EveryOne Group brought her case to international attention less than a month ago. It involved a number of MEPs and forwarded an urgent appeal to the BIA (Border Immigration Agency) and the British Government after Kiana's application for refugee status was turned down by the British Home Office and the Judge of the First Instance.

Kiana, who recently made a drama-documentary called “Cul de sac” based on her experiences as an Iranian lesbian - which was released in London on May 20th, 2010 - faced imminent deportation back to Iran, where she probably would have been put to death because of her sexual-orientation.

“After our appeal to the European institutions and authorities, other organizations, including Amnesty International, Certi Diritti and Arcigay, joined the campaign, and helped to spread news of the case” say EveryOne Group’s co-presidents, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau.

“A human rights policy wins once more, thanks to human rights activism, and another life is spared from persecution back in her home country. In spite of the difficulties and the threatening atmosphere that obstructs (particularly in Italy, where we are based) our work every day,” say the Group’s leaders, “satisfaction over campaigns such as Kiana’s encourage us to carry on, heads held high, certain that the way of human rights, the way of dialogue and the safeguarding of other human beings takes priority over violence, threats and persecution.

“We Iranian LGBT are proud we are not alone”, declared Arsham Parsi, executive director of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees organization, as soon as the news came through. “We are happy that there are millions of people who are seriously worried about our situation and support us every time there is a need”,

We thank everyone who took action and supported Kiana Firouz in the campaign to save her life” conclude Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau, “and we also hope that the United Kingdom will become an example for the rest of the European Union where policies on refugees and asylum seekers are concerned. We further hope they will pay more and more attention to the needs of human beings fleeing from persecution and humanitarian emergencies, and always put the individual's life and human dignity before domestic policy and bureaucracy”.

In the picture: A frame from the movie “Cul de sac”