Nineteen year old Mehdi Kazemi may soon be facing execution in Iran, after a bid for asylum in the United Kingdom has failed.

After arriving in England in 2004 to study English, Mr Kazemi learnt in April 2006 that his partner had been arrested on the charge of sodomy and was hanged by local authorities.

Mr Kazemi’s father had notified him by phone that his partner had been interrogated about his sexual orientation and his relationship with the nineteen year old.

After discovering news of the execution, Mr Kazemi formally lodged a request for legal asylum; his request was denied late last year.

Following the rejection, Mr Kazemi fled to Holland to escape the prospect of deportation and possible execution, and is currently detained. The teen appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not to be sent back to Britain, where deportation to Iran is all but assured.

In a letter to British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Mr Kazemi said “I wish to inform the Secretary of State that I did not come to the UK to claim asylum. I came here to study and return to my country. But in the past few months my situation back home has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me.

“I cannot stop my attraction towards men. This is something that I will have to live with the rest of my life. I was born with the feeling and cannot change this fact but it is unfortunate that I cannot express my feeling in Iran. If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed like my former boyfriend.”

The future of Mr Kazemi is currently in the process of being determined by the Dutch Court of Appeals.