A gay Iranian teenager is to be allowed to stay in Britain because his case is now so notorious that it would be dangerous to deport him to Tehran.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, granted Mehdi Kazemi a temporary reprieve yesterday as she announced that his case would be reconsidered when he returns from the Netherlands. In reality, the case of Mr Kazemi has now received so much publicity in Europe that if he were sent back to Iran, there would be a real risk of him facing persecution.

Ms Smith intervened after receiving representations from MPs and peers alarmed that Mr Kazemi, 19, could face execution if returned to his homeland. In a statement, Ms Smith said: “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.”

Borg Palm, Mr Kazemi’s solicitor in the Netherlands, welcomed the news but said that it would give his client a future only if he was granted asylum.

“He is very much afraid of being allowed to stay in Britain but without being granted official permission. That would then put him in a no man’s land. He would be very unhappy in the long term.”

A relative of Mr Kazemi, who lives in London but asked not to be named, told The Times that the teenager would be relieved.

“It has been a long time coming and a very long struggle,” he said. “What I do not understand is why the Government got itself into this mess in the first place. It should always have recognised that gay people are killed for being themselves in Iran.”

Mr Kazemi came to London to do A levels in 2005. He applied for asylum in 2006 after discovering his ex-boyfriend had been charged in Iran with sodomy, the police wished to question him about their relationship and his father had cut him out of the family.

After his asylum application had been refused, he left Britain for the Czech Republic, and tried to fly to Canada but was caught using a false passport. He eventually arrived in the Netherlands last year and tried to apply for asylum for a second time.

In a letter to Jacqui Smith, Mr Kazemi wrote: “I did not come to the UK to claim asylum. I came here to study and return to my country. But . . . my situation has changed. The Iranian authorities have found out that I am a homosexual and they are looking for me. I cannot stop my attraction towards men . . . I was born with the feeling and cannot change this fact . . . If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed.”

His case will be re-examined by Home Office officials who will base their decision on guidance issued last year, after his 2006 application was turned down.

It states: “Where an individual claimant demonstrates that their homosexual acts have brought them to the attention of the authorities to the extent that on return to Iran they will face a real risk of punishment, which will be so harsh as to amount to persecution, s/he should be granted refugee status as a member of a particular social group.

“In addition gay rights activists that have come to the attention of the authorities face a real risk of persecution and should be granted asylum as a result of their political opinion”. The Home Office said that Ms Smith’s decision to order a review was based on the particular circumstances of the case.

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