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The decision by an EU country to grant refugee status to this Brazilian woman is significant for more than one reason. To begin with, it is the first of its kind (at least that we know of). It is also an acknowledgement that the threats and punishment imposed on women who assert their views on sex and gender can amount to persecution and that their lives could be in danger if forced to return to where they came from. Third, it acknowledges that the woman in question did not escape to avoid prosecution for an ordinary crime (as that would normally exclude you from refugee status). It is therefore reflects an understanding of the authorities in the European country of asylum that the charges and the risk of this excessive sentence are function as tools of persecution and not prosecution.