(CNN) -- Britain said Friday it will reconsider the asylum application of a gay Iranian teenager who claims he will be persecuted if he is returned home.

The announcement came after the European Parliament urged a resolution to the case and said Iran routinely detains, tortures, and executes homosexuals.


The case of 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi has been in limbo after Britain initially rejected his asylum request. He fled to the Netherlands and sought asylum there -- but the government turned him down, saying the case should be dealt with in Britain, where he first applied.

"Following representations made on behalf of Mehdi Kazemi, and in the light of new circumstances since the original decision was made, I have decided that Mr. Kazemi's case should be reconsidered on his return to the UK from the Netherlands," British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a statement.

Kazemi was studying in Britain in 2006 when he learned that his partner in Iran had been arrested, charged with sodomy, and hanged, according to Kazemi's uncle, who spoke to CNN on condition that his name not be revealed because of safety concerns.

"Under torture and pressure, (the partner) revealed Mehdi's name as his boyfriend," the uncle said.

Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, and gay sex is considered a capital crime. Human rights groups allege the Iranian government targets gays with beatings, lashings and execution.

Kazemi applied for asylum in Britain. In his application, he wrote that Iranian police were now after him, and he feared execution if he returned home.

Kazemi's father disowned him when he learned his son was gay, the uncle said.
Britain's Home Office initially rejected Kazemi's asylum application, saying that although homosexuality is illegal in Iran and gays do experience discrimination there, Britain does not believe homosexuals are routinely persecuted purely because of their sexuality.

Kazemi then fled for Canada but wound up in the Netherlands, where he was detained. He made three successive appeals for asylum in the Netherlands before the Council of State -- the Netherlands' highest court -- announced Tuesday that it rejected his plea.

The decision complied with a European Union agreement that an asylum application submitted in any EU country would be handled by that country alone, according to council spokeswoman

Daniela Tempelman. She said the regulation seeks to ensure that an asylum seeker is not redirected from nation to nation simply because none will take responsibility for the case.
In order for the Dutch court to consider Kazemi's asylum application, he needed to prove that Britain did not handle his asylum application properly, but he wasn't able to, Tempelman said.

His chances for appeal in the Netherlands now exhausted, Kazemi faces deportation to Britain.
The European Parliament passed a resolution Thursday demanding that a solution be found to Kazemi's case.

The resolution points out that the Iranian authorities "routinely detain, torture and execute persons, notably homosexuals" and that "Mehdi's partner has already been executed, while his father has threatened him with death."

It says the EU and its member states cannot send people back to countries where they risk persecution, torture and death because that would violate international human rights obligations.

The resolution asked EU member state "to find a common solution to ensure that Mehdi Kazemi is granted asylum or protection on EU soil and not sent back to Iran."