Brussels, 02/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Following contributions from several MEPs to the attention of the European Commissioner in charge of immigration, Franco Frattini, the Greek authorities have finally agreed to grant refugee status to an Iranian asylum seeker, who had been imprisoned and tortured in his country because of his homosexuality. Dimitrios Papadimoulis MEP (GUE/NGL, Greece) said in a press release, “this is good news and a European first”. Papadimoulis wrote a letter co-signed by four other MEPs to Commissioner Frattini regarding the Greek authorities' refusal to grant asylum to the man, who had already been twice refused refugee asylum status since 1999, the date of his arrival in Greece. In his response, Commissioner Frattini, pointed out that any decision involving asylum demands had to be scrupulously examined with regard to Iranian legal standards, as well as the possible persecutions committed against homosexuals in this country. Shortly after publication of the Commissioner's response in the Greek press, the authorities in Athens immediatley indicated that they would process the case of this person in compliance with his rights and those of the Geneva Convention. A few days later, this man was granted refugee status in Greece. Papadimoulis pointed out that the European Parliament was concerned about another case, that of Mehdi Kazemi, a young Iranian homosexual deported from the United Kingdom and currently in a retention centre in the Netherlands under threat of being deported to Iran. The MEP concluded that, “We will continue to closely follow the issue, since the Greek authorities' decision could be used as a precedent for other relevant cases”. (B.C)