IFIR holds the Australian government responsible for Mr. Gholipour’s life and security.

Open letter of Maryam Nemazi to Australian government on Ardeshir Gholipour

February 1, 2005

Senator Amanda Vanstone

Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs

Parliament House

Canberra, ACT, 2600

Australia

Fax number:  61 02 6273 4144   

Dear Senator Vanstone:

Re: Ardeshir Gholipour

1. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) is writing to express its unequivocal concern regarding Ardeshir Gholipour’s imminent refoulement to Iran. Mr. Gholipour faces a serious risk of torture and execution should he be deported to Iran. IFIR calls on the Australian Immigration to review its decision and grant Mr. Gholipour admission and protection from torture and deportation.

2. IFIR is an international, non-governmental organisation with nearly 60 branches in over 15 countries worldwide, which promotes and protects the rights of Iranian refugees and asylum seekers.  As a record of our professional competence and credibility, various governmental, non-governmental, and inter-governmental agencies have contacted IFIR for information on country conditions as well as on individual cases. In defence of Mr. Gholipour’s protection from deportation, IFIR provides the following reasoning:

A. Mr Gholipour, who has been held in immigration detention since March 2000, having left Iran earlier that year, fled due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion. His involvement in the Iran Freedom Movement and the Left Union for Democracy and his courageous reports and commentaries as a writer on the suppression of dissent brought great risk to his life and liberty. Many have been imprisoned or murdered by the Islamic regime of Iran, including one he worked closely with.

B. The situation in Iran for dissenters and writers continues to be perilous. PEN International has on its records at least 13 writers currently detained in Iran, serving lengthy sentences for reasons which have been condemned internationally as clear breaches of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. There are many more.

C. Whilst in Australia, and in mandatory detention, Mr. Gholipour has continued speaking out against the Islamic regime of Iran’s repression and in defence of its many victims. He has written or given reports to numerous publications abroad, including our weekly, Hambastegi. He has always defended the rights of others, even in Australia, painting for example murals at the Port Hedland detention centre to raise the spirits of child detainees. IFIR believes that in addition to his right to asylum based on political opinion, he is also a refugee sur place because of such activities.

D. Mr. Golipour has already been imprisoned by the Iranian regime. He is known to them because of his imprisonment and opposition activities and writings in Iran, as well as his dissent abroad. His affiliations and articles are public knowledge. He faces serious risk of torture and execution if deported. The Islamic regime has stepped up executions and torture of political opponents and others in the past several years further increasing the seriousness of the torture and cruel and inhuman punishment he will face.

E. Moreover, the Islamic regime of Iran routinely interrogates and tortures asylum seekers who are deported back to Iran. In May 2002, two Iranian asylum seekers who were deported by the Australian government were arrested upon arrival and ordered to appear before an Islamic tribunal.  Of two other male detainees who were returned to Tehran, one man apparently never left the airport where his family had been waiting for him and the other vanished from his home several days after being returned. According to an Amnesty International Urgent Action, six people were executed between 7 and 13 October 2002, including Khaled Shoghi, who was deported from Turkey in 1997 and arrested and tortured. Also According to Amnesty International, 6 March 2002 Urgent Action 69/02, Karim Tuzhali was executed on 24 January 2002 at Mahabad prison, western Iran; he was a former asylum seeker who was forcibly returned on 20 June 1998.  In March 2001, Kamal Mohammadian, an activist and political prisoner from Iranian Kurdistan, who had managed to escape to Iraqi Kurdistan and was handed back to the Iranian government by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was executed after years of torture. IFIR is aware of numerous such cases of torture, including recent ones, after having been contacted by family members when an asylum seeker is deported to Iran, however, IFIR cannot reveal many of the cases due to the requests of deported asylum seekers and their families who fear further repercussions and torture.

3. The realities of Mr. Gholipour’s case, the abysmal human rights situation in Iran and the imminent torture and execution he will face if deported, demand that he be provided protection from refoulement. According to the UNHCR, the prohibition of return to torture contained in Article Three of the Convention against Torture, which Australia has ratified, is not subject to exception.

4. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) reiterates its unequivocal support of Mr. Gholipour’s application for admission and protection from torture and deportation. IFIR looks forward to the Australian government's immediate intervention in this matter. Recently, the Australian Democrats’ deputy leader said it would be "negligence" on Australia's part to forcibly return Gholipour; we assert that it would a travesty of justice and a human tragedy.  Needless to say, the IFIR holds the Australian government responsible for Mr. Gholipour’s life and security.

Sincerely,

Maryam Namazie

IFIR Executive Committee

Cc: civil, refugee and human rights organisations and UNHCR