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Special page on campaign to save Zahra Kamalfar's from Russia
Urgent
Action Appeal
Zahra Kamalfar and her two children are at risk of torture and
of being forcibly returned to Iran by Russian authorities
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CNN
reports:
Zahra Kamalfar and her
children in Moscow airport
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Moments of resistance
Challenges to Zahra Kamalfar’s imminent deportation to Iran
Latest Update from
Farshad Hoseini,
Executive Director of the International Federation of Iranian
Refugees (IFIR)
Today (Tuesday
21 November) was a very important day in the life of Zahra Kamalfar
and her children who have been languishing in Moscow’s airport for
some time now. It was like a hidden war between a mother and her two
innocent children on the one hand and the officers and security
guards of the airport on the other.
I
contacted Zahra every hour. She is disappointed, disturbed and
afraid. She asks herself, can anybody really save my life? She tells
me she suspects that the authorities are going to do something
today; she is under constant surveillance.
I am on
the phone with every organisation and personality I can think of –
from Geneva, Moscow, to London to demand that they help and
intervene.
I will
write all I can about her case. I will publish all my conversations
with her and all the responses I have received thus far to show the
world how humanity has been forgotten.
I have
been with Zahra via telephone. She tells me they have picked up
their belongings and are ordering her and her children to follow
them. She begins resisting. Via telephone I can clearly hear her
anger. They try to remove her mobile phone. For a few seconds, I
could only hear the voices of the Russian police and Zahra demanding
that they return her phone. She says: ‘You have no right to keep my
telephone’. I can hear her children crying. I am disconnected.
After
30 minutes I manage to contact Zahra again. It was very near to the
time she was to be forcibly placed on an Aeroflot flight to Iran. I
find out that that Zahra and her children are surrounded by police
and airport guards. My next contact with her is after 15 minutes.
Anna, her daughter has drunk shampoo to protest their deportation. I
could only hear crying, groaning, and the voices of emergency aid
workers. The Aeroflot flight has left without Zahra and her
children.
So with
this resistance, we have another day to stop their deportation to
Iran. Another day to secure their legitimate right to asylum.
Tomorrow (Wednesday 22 November) is another important day in the
struggle to save Zahra and her children. We have to win.
Don’t
wait for a tragic end to this story. We must do some thing to end
this drama in their favour.
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UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (20.00-20-11-2006):
IFIR has been informed that Ms. Kamalfar at serious risk of
deportation to Iran. She wills not departure to Kyrgyzstan!! Ms.
Kamalfar Informed IFIR that she will be detained for a few hours and
keep in a room on Moscow airport till her departure to Tehran on
Tuesday 21 November. Activities of IFIR with other humanitarian and
refugee organization to save Zahra in the last minutes are
continued.
IFIR also informed that a lawyer with the
international law firm of Orrick, Herrington &Sutcliffe LLP, is
working to prevent the forced deportation of Ms. Kamalfar from
Russia to Iran. In that regard, their law partner in Russia, Olga
Anisimova, has been in touch with the local representative of Civic
Assistance (a Russian based Human Rights group)who has filed an
application with the Federal Immigration Service of the Russian
Federation to allow Ms. Kamalfar to stay in Russia. In addition,
their firm has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human
Rights under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human rights,
asking the Court to prohibit the Russian Federation from deporting
her from Russia until the complaint is resolved on its merits.
UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (15.30-20-11-2006):
IFIR has been informed by Ms. Kamalfar from Airport that she may be
departure from Moscow to capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan by
Aeroflot at 23.10 tonight. If this happened to her, Ms. Kamalfar
will apply asylum in Kyrgyzstan.
UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (14.50-20-11-2006):
IFIR has been informed by Ms. Kamalfar from Airport that she has
received a message (SMS) and told her she would be deported tonight
at 10 pm in Russian times.
UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (14.50- 20-11-2006):
IFIR has been informed that possibility of forcible return of
Ms.Kamalfar now is in higher risk. Some thing unusual is happened to
her. She has been forbidden to have any visit in airport hall. The
danger of capture her and her two children would be happened in
every minute. This is unconfirmed at this point.
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Iranian Dissident
Trapped in Moscow Airport - Exclusive Pajamas Media Video
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Pajamas Media: "We Drink and
Bathe from the Toilets" -- Iranian Dissident Trapped 73 Days in
Moscow Airport - Exclusive Pajamas Media Video#comments
Politics Central: Ledeen on the
Kamalfar Video
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Bewildered and lonesome at Moscow Airport
"My children have not
seen the sun for 18 months here at Moscow Airport"
Reporting 18 months of
destitute and perplexity of an asylum seeker lady and her 2 children at Moscow
Airport
Farshad Hosseini
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Save Zahra
kamalfar from violation in Iran and in Russia
Zahra Kamalfar is an Iranian asylum seeker who had made a
refugee claim, with her two minor children, through UNHCR in Russia on or
about May 3, 2004.The Russian authorities now want to deport the family to Iran,
something that the family is convinced will be devastating to their life and
safety. The Russian authorities are imposing pressure on the family by having
them stranded in the Transit hall of the Moscow International Airport for the
past several months, denying them all access to the most basic needs, including
shower, proper food, etc. Regardless of the legalities of their case, this is a
clear breach of all human rights principles.
To save Zahra from this
unhuman situation please sign the petition
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