This article got removed for some reason, but I checked the auto-translated Austrian article and the former seems accurate:
Muslim Man With Wife And Five Children Granted Asylum In Austria After Claiming To Be “Persecuted Homosexual” (link no longer works)
A
devout Muslim with a wife and five children has been granted asylum in
Austria on the basis that he would be persecuted for his homosexuality
if he were returned to his nations of citizenship.
The man, a Russian-Tajik dual citizen,
first entered Austria illegally on September 22, 2023, via Turkey and
Saudi Arabia. Upon intake, he applied for asylum on the grounds that he
was looking for better economic circumstances for his wife and give
children. He also claimed he was afraid of being drafted to fight in
Ukraine by Russia.
The
application was rejected in April, but the migrant filed an appeal.
During an oral hearing on the case, the man, a devout Muslim who had
recently completed a pilgrimage to Mecca, changed his reason for seeking
asylum, disclosing that he was gay and feared persecution in his home
countries.
The
man continued that he wanted to start meeting male partners for sex,
and wouldn’t be able to do that in Russia or Tajikistan.
His
application was subsequently approved, with the asylum tribunal
deciding that him having a wife and children did not necessarily mean
that he couldn’t also be gay.
Since
being approved, the man’s wife and children, who have been residing in
Turkey awaiting the decision on his application, are now also eligible
to join him in Austria.
The
bizarre story has caused waves in Austria, with the newly-elected
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) condemning the decision. Vienna FPÖ
chairman Maximilian Krauss called the verdict a “judicial scandal” and
accused aid organizations and lawyers of advising asylum seekers to
falsely claim they are gay. Krauss also demanded an end to what he
called the “fooling of our state.”
This
is not the first time a migrant has come under scrutiny for apparently
falsely claiming to be homosexual in order to gain asylum, with
suspected cases being reported across Europe.
In March, a Syrian asylum seeker in the Netherlands
claimed that he was a homosexual after being found guilty of sexually
assaulting four 11-year-old girls at the Center Parcs holiday resort.
The claim was made as part of his mitigating arguments against being
deported back to Syria.
Despite
claiming he was of a “persecuted” sexual minority, the Syrian national
had a wife and child awaiting approval to join him in the Netherlands
under family reunification laws.
