Asylum for gay Algerian

Asylum for gay Algerian

PARIS (Reuter): A gay Algerian has become the first person to win political asylum in France on grounds his life was in danger because of his sexual orientation, a homosexual rights group said yesterday.

The Paris-based Gay and Lesbian Center said the Algerian, identified only as L. Faysal, had won refugee status from the French authorities last month after being beaten and threatened with death in Algeria.

Faysal had been a political activist in Algeria, founding a group to battle the spread of AIDS and a second organization to promote human rights.

The center claimed in a printed statement that Algerian police assaulted and arrested him while others chased him and threatened him with death, prompting Faysal to flee Algeria and seek asylum in France.

France's Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) had never before granted asylum in such a case but agreed to do so after several French AIDS and homosexual organizations supported his request, the group said.

An OFPRA official said the office would not comment on individual cases.

"The Gay and Lesbian Center welcomes this decision, but notes that other gays who are also victims of serious persecution...have seen their requests rejected," the group said, vowing to use all available resources to win refugee status for other threatened gays.