Is the United States Ready To Step Up To Help A Gay Saudi Diplomat Avoid Execution?

To say that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is complex is kind of an understatement. We have a U.S. State Department that blasts the country for its treatment of certain groups (including women and LGBT people), as well as criticizes the country for fostering a climate conducive to rampant human trafficking.

Meanwhile, the head of the Saudi Royal Family is embraced openly at the White House, and the Obama administration just cut a weapons deal with the countrythat hearkens back to the heydays of the Cold War in its scope and size.

Sure seems like when it comes to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. is all over the map. But an asylum request before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may just force the U.S. to take a firm position on the country one way or another: is the country a routine human rights abuser, or is it a near and dear ally with special influence within the Obama administration?

The asylum request comes from a former diplomat at the Saudi Arabia consulate in Los Angeles. His name is Ali Ahmad Asseri, and he was up until this year the first secretary of the consulate. But as Asseri puts it, members of the Saudi Arabian government are now targeting him, and want the U.S. to facilitate his deportation back to Saudi Arabia. Why? According to Asseri, because he is gay, and because he befriended a Jewish woman from Israel.

As a quick primer on Saudi Arabia, homosexuality (as it is in most countries in the region), is not looked upon with much dignity. It's against the law to engage in any sort of same-sex behavior, with penalties ranging from public lashings (witness two men who were lashed a whopping 7,000 times after accusations of sodomy), to execution. Which is exactly the fate that Asseri fears for his own life, if the U.S. boots him back to Saudi Arabia.

One more complication in the mix? Asseri stands accused of criticizing the Saudi Royal Family via the Internet, suggesting that at least four Saudi Princes get paid huge sums of money to live in the United States and chillax 24-7.

It's a complicated geopolitical scenario. But then again, it shouldn't have to be. Why? Because the U.S. has granted asylum to Saudis before on the basis of sexual orientation, meaning that on some level, the U.S. government has recognized that when it comes to the treatment of LGBT people, Saudi Arabia is not a safe place. Sure, this man may be a diplomat, and governments often like to let countries deal with their own personnel. But Asseri is also a human being; one who will face certain harassment, if not jail time or death, if he's sent back to Saudi Arabia. Take a moment to let the Department of Homeland Security know that anyone at risk of persecution because of their sexual orientation, particularly in the case of a country that kills gay people, ought to be afforded asylum.

http://gayrights.change.org/