Zahra Kamalfar is still at Moscow Airport!

Reporting on the latest situation of Zahra Kamalfar at Transit Hall of Moscow Airport

By: Farshad Hosseini

Zahra Kamalfar: “It’s not important to us which country. We just want to be free. For god’s sake tell them my children are losing their sanity.”

It is Saturday, 17 February, 13:30 Central European time. I rang Zahra to find out about her latest situation. The last time we communicated by phone was last week. She rang me and expressed her concerns about some suspicious activities around her. She was still scared of being deported.

Suspicious behaviour of the Airport authorities with their meaningful glances was once again resurrecting the chilling thoughts of deportation in their minds. As before, I consoled her. I made a few helpful recommendations to her and immediately after my conversation with Zahra I contacted the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and other organisations defending the rights of the asylum seekers in Russia. There was no mention of any deportation. Every one knows that Zahra’s case is not an isolated one. Millions of people around the world are aware of her situation and are concerned about her fate.
Zahra had calmed down a little but was still anxious. She was perplexed by her bewilderment.
I promised to follow her case as before, by invoking another international campaign.

The deportation of Zahra Kamalfar was postponed due to the IFIR’s powerful international campaign and the unequivocal support she received from around the globe.
The UNHCR who had closed Zahra’s case was under pressure by this campaign. Tens of legal and political correspondences along with comprehensive details about Zahra’s case were forwarded to the UNHCR in Geneva and Moscow by the IFIR’s Secretariat. It was following such efforts that Zahra Kamalfar and her children were granted refugee status by the UNHCR.
A number of noble lawyers volunteered to take up Mrs Kamalfar’s case and followed it through. These lawyers were perusing the process of transferring Mrs Kamalfar to Canada.

Today, the second phase of our international campaign to defend Zahra Kamalfar is being launched. This is why I contacted her again. When Mrs Kamalfar answered the phone, she sounded depressed and unwell. Her sentences were short and broken up. She wasn’t able to endure her sadness for long. Soon she burst into tears and she started sobbing.

My first question was about the progress of her resettlement in Canada.

“We filled in our Canadian Residence application forms on 29 January”, she replied. “They told us then that our case was receiving priority attention and was being considered with special urgency. They promised to get back to us with the Embassy’s response to resettlement us to Canada within ten days. However, we haven’t heard from them in twenty days as yet”.

Zahra’s voice is quivering but she tries very hard to find her composure and she adds with dignity in her voice: “Mr Farshad, It’s not important to us which country. We just want to be free. It doesn’t make any difference which country we go to. We just want to get out of this situation”.
She pauses for a while. It’s obvious that she can not sustain the profound pains she is enduring. She is sobbing louder. Her words keep breaking up.
“Mr Farshad, my children are losing their sanity. Their mental health is suffering. I want my children to get through this in good shape not in bad health”, she said.
Her sobbing gets even louder.
“Please tell these people that it doesn’t matter which country they send us to, for crying out loud. They could send us to Afghanistan. We just want freedom”, she said.

I ask about the children. “We are thrown in a corner in this hall, and are all unwell. I have had problems with my womb for over a month and I need a doctor and a hospital. My son and daughter are both sick at my feet and are perishing before my eyes”.

I hear all this in sentences made up of broken words coming out of a frail and afflicted human being.

“Why can’t anyone hear our cries? We are enduring the hard Moscow winter cold with the help of a couple of tablets. The Aeroflot staff are constantly tormenting and pressuring us. They frisk us and go through our belongings 10 times a day. I swear to god we have nothing but one holdall and some clothes. But they constantly ransack our belongings. The children are so scared. They have broken down mentally. Why doesn’t anybody hear our cries?” she sobs.

Millions of people have heard your cries, I explained. Millions of people have shed tears with you. I have had hundreds of e-mails from around the world worrying about you. You are not on your own. You are not the only one feeling this pain. People from the USA and Europe who don’t even speak your language have sent me e-mails telling me that they couldn’t sleep at night when they heard about your predicament. Some wrote to me with tears in their eyes. Your circumstances have touched millions of hearts around the world and millions have become aware of how volatile and tragic refugee cases can be, I said to her.

I explained to her that there were lots of pressure on the Canadian authorities and the UNHCR.
Everyone is constantly raising questions to the authorities about your case. You have gained yourself a massive social platform. I’m fully aware that these things do not mean material for medical care, fresh air and a hot shower to you. I know that this doesn’t heal your children’s hardship and pain. I also know that this still doesn’t mean holding a boarding card in your hands on your way to a safe haven. But your liberation can only be redeemed against such important endurance. This is a struggle, I said. A true struggle to defend Human values and dignity and it’s a tough one. I wish that defending Human values and dignity weren’t such a hard task. I wish one didn’t have to pay such high price of daily suffering and pain to defend such values. But such is the logic of the world we live in these days.

I promised Zahra to get the second phase of our international campaign to save them on the way. We will turn all the invaluable huge solidarity and the massive support you have gained into flying wings for you and your children.

She seemed hopeful and had found more confidence in herself. Her sobbing had subsided. She was paying attention to every word of what I was saying to her. It was so obvious how much she was in need of such strong solidarity. How much she would have liked to have immediately turned all her hopes into reality. She had calmed down and she thanked me. She also expressed her gratitude to the Federation and all those who had tried to place liberty and the good fortune into his children’s soft little hands.

I would like to turn to you now, the readers of this article. We must turn this hope into reality. We must materialise this hope. We have a moral responsibility towards needful people such as the Kamalfar family. We must prepare ourselves once again.
We must try to get Zahra and her children to Canada in 10 or 20 days or in a month at the most. We must bury this tragedy once and for good, with our unity and solidarity as soon as possible. Our society must not get used to witnessing such human tragedy repeating itself. Putting an end to Mrs Kamalfar’s tragedy is up to us. She needs us NOW and therefore, we must act NOW!

The International Federation of Iranian Refugees is herby announcing the launch of the second phase of its campaign for the transfer of Mrs Kamalfar and her children, and has a defined timetable for its plan of action. We must organise ourselves and co-ordinate our efforts according to this timetable and plan of action.