Court blocks forced repatriation of Iranian Kurdish woman

Naze Aghai thanks supporters

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Iranian asylum seeker Naze Aghai and her Finnish supporters were pleasantly surprised on Friday when Helsinki Administrative Court ruled that an order to deport her should not be implemented for now. Previously, the Directorate of Immigration had ordered that Aghai should be sent back to Iran on Tuesday this week.
     Aghai's appeal against the decision to repatriate her will probably take months to process.
     During that time, Aghai will be free to move around, as the Helsinki aliens' police unit allowed her out of a detention centre where she had spent the past two weeks.
     
"I am very relieved over the decision", Aghai said, her voice trembling with emotion.
     She said that she had not been able to eat or sleep in several days.
     Aghai said that she is very grateful to her supporters in Finland, although at times she feels that she is all alone. "I miss my family, and I am very worried about my mother."
     She nevertheless sees no possibility of going back to Iran. "I will commit suicide, if I am put on a plane", she said in a calm voice.
     Aghai said that she will return to Turku on Monday where she plans to start studying the Finnish language. She said that she hopes to work with children.
     
Aghai is required to inform the police where she is living while her appeal is processed. Otherwise she is free to reside anywhere in Finland that she wants to, until the court makes its ruling.
     Vicar Jouni Lehikoinen of St. Michael's Parish in Turku, said that the congregation would continue to support Aghai and help her find accommodation.
     Aghai's case reached the public eye when the congregation gave the wanted woman shelter in June. At that time, she was hiding from Finnish officials.
     Members of the congregation say that being sent back to Iran would amount to a death sentence.
     The Directorate of Immigration has rejected Aghai's asylum application twice, but Lehikoinen is confident that the Administrative Court will allow Aghai to stay.
     
In its decision to expel Naze Aghai, the Directorate of Immigration found that the applicant "had not been threatened, arrested, imprisoned, sentenced, beaten or tortured in her home country because of political activity." The directorate felt that applicant's account about the persecution that she suffers in her home country Iran has been vague, sketchy and superficial.
     Naze Aghai said that she had she has operated in the leftist Komala party, which has been persecuted.
     The directorate said that the political activity described by Aghai was meagre, and she has not given a credible explanation as to why Iranian officials would be interested in her.
     The directorate also notes that there have not been mentions in the international media, or in reports by human rights organisations of any instances of violations of the rights of the party's members.
      Aghai says that she faces an arranged marriage, which her family committed her to already when she was a baby. However, the Directorate of Immigration notes that the applicant has not presented any evidence, such as a copy of the marriage agreement, or photographs of the prospective husband.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Iranian Kurd protected by church to be deported (4.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat