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Asylum seeker Amir Shokrgozar was deported from Iceland to Italy on Friday. His application for asylum in Iceland was denied because he has asylum in Italy. 


Shokrgozar dwelt in a refugee camp in Italy where he was persecuted for being gay and for being Christian, and was gang raped there. 

“What I went through in the refugee camp in Italy was very difficult for me,” he said. “I experienced physical and psychological harassment so I left the camp and was living on the streets for 6 months. That time was very difficult; there were times when I had to go and sleep under the table of other refugees. And sometimes I didn't even have that possibility. Sometimes I didn't even have anything to eat and so I had to say yes to people who asked me to have sex with them instead. But they often treated me really badly, cutting me, beating me up and throwing me out of their house. So I experienced a lot of psychological, physical and sexual violence in Italy.”

His lawyer in Iceland says that there's nothing to be done because the Dublin regulation being so strict. Shokrgozar  has an Icelandic boyfriend but new regulations on marriage in Iceland mean that even if he married his boyfriend he could only receive a residency permit one year later. Shokrgozar has been working as a hairdresser in Iceland.

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