Rt Hon Theresa May MP,Home Secretary,2 Marsham Street,London, SW1P 4DFDear Mrs May

Re: Kiana Firouz, Home Office reference number F1105822

Ms. Firouz is an Iranian lesbian seeking asylum in the UK. Her application has thus far beendenied by your department.Homosexuality in Iran is a sin and offence which is subject to harsh punishment. According to theIslamic law, repeatation of this offence will be punished by death. The punishment for lesbianisminvolving persons who are mature, of sound mind, and consenting, is 100 lashes.If the act is repeated three times and punishment is enforced each time, the death sentence willapply on the fourth occasion. (Articles 127, 129, 130 penal code) The ways of proving lesbianismin court are the same as for male homosexuality. (Article 128)Repression, torture, rape and other harsh punishment of lesbians in Iran has been welldocumented.She has recently played a role in a feature film called “Cul de Sac” which is mainly based on herreal life story. The movie is scheduled to be screened in May 2010. The trailer of the movie hasbeen published on You Tube since December 2009 and watched by more than ten thousandviewers just in the first four days.The film’s news was covered by the international media world wide and specifically has beencovered by the Iranian opposition media, which is under surveillance by the Iranian authorities.The movie contains sexual scenes which itself would be subject to death punishment if she wasreturned to Iran.Your predecessor Jacqui Smith decided in the case of the Iranian Mehdi Kazemi that the fact thathe had become known as gay through international media coverage meant that it would be unsafeto return him to Iran.Apart from this, it is not appropriate to say that Firouz can return and live discretely or in anotherpart of Iran. In its guidance note issued last year the United Nations High Commission forRefugees (UNHCR) said "a person cannot be expected or required by the state to change orconceal his or her [sexual] identity in order to avoid persecution."I request that you intervene in her asylum claim.Sincerely