Still here, Iranian abuser we’ve failed to deport for 13yrs
AN Iranian sex offender jailed for abusing two boys is still living in Scotland, 13 years after his deportation was ordered.
Amir Beroghani, 61, has been thwarting Government attempts to send him to his home country since he sailed to the UK around 2005.
A year later it was found that he had touched a 12-year-old boy inappropriately in a sports centre pool.
It then emerged another boy of the same age had been indecently assaulted by him at a charity-run community centre.
Beroghani served a sevenmonth jail sentence after admitting the offences. But since his release he has continued a cycle of asylum claims and appeals funded by the taxpayer.
Beroghani says his abuse conviction proves his homosexuality – despite the fact he is married with two children – and that this would put him at risk were he forced to return to Iran.
His last attempt at the Court of Session to seek an appeal was thrown out in March last year but the Home Office has yet to deport him. According to social media, he is still living in Glasgow.
A Home Office spokesman said they would not comment on the matter and that the time and steps taken to remove someone from the country after their appeals are denied vary ‘case by case’.
Alp Mehmet, vice chairman of the independent Migration Watch UK, said: ‘Those who fail in their claim for asylum and continue to be denied it after due process of the law, as is the case with Beroghani, should be removed at the earliest opportunity.
‘The fact that this man is still here is quite baffling.’
Beroghani had faced being sent home in 2007 after serving a seven-month jail sentence for indecently assaulting two teenage boys at a Glasgow swimming pool and a community centre.
Lawyers opposing
‘Should be removed’
Beroghani’s bid to stay have consistently doubted his claim to be gay.
A spokesman for the Judicial Office for Scotland confirmed the attempt to seek leave for an appeal against the deportation decision was denied last year. He said: ‘The application for leave to appeal to the Court of Session was refused on March 23, 2017.’
Beroghani could not be contacted for comment, while the legal firm representing him, Drummond Miller, declined to comment on his case.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and each claim is considered on its individual merits. Where someone is found not to need our protection we expect them to leave the country voluntarily. Where they do not, we will seek to enforce their removal.
‘We do not routinely comment on individual cases.’