ianstone
09-14-2010, 04:39 PM
Saudi diplomat seeks US asylum
A Saudi Arabian diplomat is seeking political asylum in the United States, claiming he is homosexual and fears for his life if he returns home.
Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 5:13PM BST 14 Sep 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01715/saudi_1715657c.jpg Ali Ahmad Asseri believes Saudi officials have blocked his return to Riyadh Photo: REUTERS
Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, is understood to have told US officials that his own country had refused to renew his diplomatic passport.
He told NBC News that Saudi officials acted after following him to gay bars, and also discovering that he was close friends with a Jewish woman.
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In an email to the network he said: "My life is in a great danger here and if I go back to Saudi Arabia, they will kill me openly in broad daylight." Asseri was also said to have posted a letter on a Saudi website criticising his country's "backwardness" and the role of "militant imams." The letter threatened to make public embarrassing information on members of the Saudi royal family living in the US.
The diplomat spoke by telephone but was in hiding. He told the network: "Words cannot express the anger I feel about how I have been treated." Ally Bolour, his lawyer, told NBC that other Saudis had been granted asylum by the US on grounds of sexual orientation, but Asseri's case was unusual because of his diplomatic status.
The case has the potential to cause embarrassment for the administration of US President Barack Obama, which has been seeking Saudi support in the Middle East peace process.
In 1994 Mohammed al-Khilewi, an official with Saudi Arabia's United Nations delegation, sought protection in the US after publicly criticising his own country's human rights record and claiming it supported extremist groups.
A Saudi Arabian diplomat is seeking political asylum in the United States, claiming he is homosexual and fears for his life if he returns home.
Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 5:13PM BST 14 Sep 2010
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01715/saudi_1715657c.jpg Ali Ahmad Asseri believes Saudi officials have blocked his return to Riyadh Photo: REUTERS
Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, is understood to have told US officials that his own country had refused to renew his diplomatic passport.
He told NBC News that Saudi officials acted after following him to gay bars, and also discovering that he was close friends with a Jewish woman.
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In an email to the network he said: "My life is in a great danger here and if I go back to Saudi Arabia, they will kill me openly in broad daylight." Asseri was also said to have posted a letter on a Saudi website criticising his country's "backwardness" and the role of "militant imams." The letter threatened to make public embarrassing information on members of the Saudi royal family living in the US.
The diplomat spoke by telephone but was in hiding. He told the network: "Words cannot express the anger I feel about how I have been treated." Ally Bolour, his lawyer, told NBC that other Saudis had been granted asylum by the US on grounds of sexual orientation, but Asseri's case was unusual because of his diplomatic status.
The case has the potential to cause embarrassment for the administration of US President Barack Obama, which has been seeking Saudi support in the Middle East peace process.
In 1994 Mohammed al-Khilewi, an official with Saudi Arabia's United Nations delegation, sought protection in the US after publicly criticising his own country's human rights record and claiming it supported extremist groups.