Police arrest Iranian asylum seeker living in a church in Vancouver Canada

VANCOUVER .After two-and-a-half years of living in the sanctuary of a Vancouver church, Amir Kazemian on Monday walked the streets a free man.

Church supporters and family members who had gathered at the federal government building cheered as he walked out the door after being granted permanent resident status by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Government officials announced at about 10 a.m. that Kazemian's humanitarian and compassionate plea to stay in Canada was accepted.

"Thank-you, thank-you," he said, hugging his lawyer Naomi Minwalla outside on the steps outside the CIC offices.

Minwalla had spent the weekend preparing for a detention hearing after Kazemian was arrested by a Vancouver police officer who did not understand the tradition of ignoring arrest warrants for people living in church sanctuary.

Kazemian had summoned police to his room at St. Michael's Anglican Church to complain about a fraudulent cheque someone had given him to pay for an item he was selling. The officer who attended the church ran his name through the police computer system and saw the arrest warrant that has been outstanding since Kazemian was ordered deported in June 2004.

The deportation order was issued after Kazemian lost his refugee claim and had exhausted all other avenues of appeal.

But instead of ignoring the arrest warrant, as other officers had done, she enforced it and Kazemian spent the weekend in detention terrified that he would be sent back to Iran.

For more than two years, the Iranian-born Kazemian evaded arrest by living in a small side chapel of the church.

He survived on a $500 per month stipend from church members and earned a small income buying and repairing broken electronic items via the internet.

 

Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun. Monday, February 19, 2007,.Since arriving in Canada in 1998 on a visitor's visa from Iran, Amir Kazemian has failed multiple times to persuade immigration officials and the Federal Court to allow him to stay in Canada.

He was ordered deported in 2004 and began living in St. Michael's Anglican Church in east Vancouver.

Kazemian says he was arrested in 1984 for calling for the overthrow of Iran's Islamic government and was interrogated and tortured over 16 months.

He says he fears he will be killed if he is sent back to Iran, in part because he has converted to Christianity.

According to Federal Court documents, immigration authorities rejected Kazemian's refugee claim in 1998 because "the applicant was not a credible witness. He failed to set out important evidence in his Personal Information Form. His claim of a fear of persecution on the basis of his alleged conversion to Christianity was not credible."

WHAT IS SANCTUARY?

The idea of sanctuary goes back to medieval times, when fugitives -- including criminals -- could escape arrest by hiding in a church or a temple.

In more modern times, churches have provided sanctuary to refugees, often citing the centuries-old Christian tradition of offering food and shelter to those in need.

Some churches, such as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, even have an official policy of providing sanctuary to rejected refugee claimants who risk persecution or torture if returned to their home country.

While sanctuary has a long tradition in Canada, it has no legal basis.

Police can legally arrest people in churches, even though they have often been reluctant to do so.

In 2004, police in Quebec City stormed a church and took away Mohamed Cherfi, a failed Algerian refugee claimant who had sought sanctuary in its basement.

Cherfi was turned over to immigration officials for deportation.

Last November, representatives from five church denominations appeared before the House of Commons standing committee on

citizenship and immigration to explain their reasons for offering sanctuary and pleaded for changes to the refugee system.

Chad Skelton