![\"Morocco\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Morocco.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA gay<\/a> man<\/a> is facing deportation from the UK to Morocco<\/a> \u2013 where homosexuality is punishable with up to three years in jail \u2013 after his bid for asylum was rejected. <\/span><\/p>\n 25-year-old Abderrahim sought asylum earlier this year after being subjected to verbal abuse and death threats because of his sexual orientation. He and several other members of a fledgling LGBT group called Akaliyat \u00a0(\u201cMinorities\u201d) fled the country after it received national media coverage.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the Home Office rejected Abderrahim\u2019s application because \u201chis claimed treatment does not amount to persecution.\u201d An appeal was dismissed by a first-tier tribunal judge earlier this month.<\/span><\/p>\n The asylum rejection comes just weeks after the Moroccan minister of state for human rights, Mustapha Ramid, called gay<\/a> people awsakh, an Arabic word for \u201cscum\u201d or \u201cdirt\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n According to <\/span>The Guardian<\/b><\/a><\/em>, Abderrahim said deporting him was like sending him back to darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBeing gay<\/a> in Morocco is hard, you can face persecution and be put in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI know who I am now, I understand what\u2019s the meaning of freedom, I can walk in the street and not look behind my back. For me to go back to Morocco is to go back to darkness \u2013 homophobia in Morocco is rising.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jamal Malek, a Moroccan LGBT activist, said:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople in Morocco still think an HIV-positive person is someone we should throw away, abandon and eliminate from our everyday life.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAbderrahim is not only an HIV-positive person, but also publicly and openly gay<\/a>, and that\u2019s just enough for us to see how it\u2019s going to be so difficult for him to come back to Morocco.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell<\/a> added:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGay Moroccans are at risk of arrest, imprisonment, homophobic violence and so-called honour killing. Many people with HIV in Morocco do not have access to life-saving treatments, so his deportation could be a death sentence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Abderrahim\u2019s lawyers have submitted an application for permission to appeal. A Home Office spokesperson said his claim \u201cwas carefully considered on its individual merits against background country information and was refused in August 2017\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n The post Gay Moroccan Man Faces Deportation From the UK<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a031 Chechen Gay and Bisexual Men Get Asylum in Canada<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n