Ali Ahmad Asseri, Gay Saudi Official In L.A., Seeks Asylum, Says He Could Be Killed If Returned To His Homeland

Google Maps

A Saudi diplomat based in Los Angeles has asked the United States for political asylum because he is gay and calls a Jewish woman friend, NBC News reported this week. Ali Ahmad Asseri was identified as the first secretary of Saudi Arabia's consulate on Sawtelle Boulevard in West L.A.

He told NBC News that Saudi authorities would "kill me openly in broad daylight" because of his perceived transgressions against what he described in another statement his homeland's "backwardness."

Asseri said he told U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have terminated him and pulled his diplomatic passport after discovering his sexual preference and friendship with the Jewish woman. He was then questioned by Homeland Security officials Aug. 30, he told the broadcaster.

In a posting on a Saudi website he has subsequently threatened to unleash what he said was embarrassing information about Saudi royal family members living the high life in the United States.