Afshin Sohrabzadeh, Leyli Faraji, Esmaeil Fattahi, Zeinab Sahafi and Mohammad Pourakbari are facing immediate danger
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees, once again is asking Turkish authorities to refrain from deporting the above mentioned asylum seekers to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Millions of people are involved throughout the world by a campaign to prevent the deportation of Afshin Sohrabzadeh, Leyli Faraji, Esmaeil Fattahi, Zeinab Sahafi and Mohammad Pourakbari. Hundreds of signatures have been sent to the Turkish government and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Scores of letters, announcements, comments, and thousands of hashtags “do not deport” have been made, and dozens of radio and television interviews have been conducted in this regard. Social Medias are full of pictures of asylum seekers detained in Turkey.
Since Afshin Sohrabzadeh was in the prisons of the Islamic Republic at the height of his youth was subjected to the most severe physical torture, for 7 years at the height of his youth on the charges of “war against God” and cooperation with the Komala organization, and managed to escape these harsh conditions only after internal bleeding and temporary medical leave; it is inconceivable for our organization and every Iranian who have heard about the deportation of this political prisoner to deport him to Iran.
In 2012 and 2013 while Afshin was in prison and on a temporary medical leave, the Amnesty International got hold of him and he provided them with a detailed report on his physical condition and the medical treatment that he received. Only after Afshin was detain in Turkey and the campaign to stop his deportation was started, this report was released by the Amnesty International. Amnesty International writes in this report: “Between August and November 2015, Iranian government officials twice allowed Afshin Sohrabzadeh in Evin Prison and in Tehran to be treated at Imam Khomeini State Hospital, but both times, the treatments that were promises did not take place.”
The report continues: “The reason for the authorities’ refusal to treat Afshin is not clear, and if he is transferred to Tehran for the second time, he does not appear to be receiving treatment, since his family, who live in poverty, will have to spend 700 million. Prison authorities are legally responsible to take care of the health of the detainees. They left additional charges to Afshin, so in June 2010 Afshin went into a coma and lost contact with the outside world for several weeks.”
Amnesty International continued its report by stating that Afshin’s illness was due to injuries he suffered as a result of torture in prison. It says: “In a letter written by Afshin Sohrabzadeh from inside the prison in September 2015, he said that as far as I can remember, I had no health issues before my arrest. I was severely tortured in the Ministry of Intelligence, my nose was broken and my abdominal wall was cracked.”
At the time the Amnesty International wrote in a letter to the authorities of the Islamic Republic: “Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority who was sentenced to 25 years in exile in a remote prison in southern Hormozgan province, urgently needed medical treatment outside the prison. Please write immediately to ensure that the specialized medical treatment required by Afshin Sohrabzadeh is provided immediately, free of charge, and in accordance with international standards.”
Amnesty International has called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to ensure that Afshin is no longer subjected to torture, ill-treatment and deprivation of medical facilities and care. It is not clear where the respect for human rights and asylum seekers rights should make sense?! Is this not enough for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey, which once accepted the reasons for Afshin’s asylum application, to intervene, block his deportation, use its authority and send Afshin to a third country?
What will happen to Fereshteh Tajmiri and Arad Sohrabzadeh, Afshin’s wife and their two-year-old child? Aren’t Turkish government and UN officials aware of what pressures Afshin’s wife and a two-year-old child have endured in Turkey? What is your answer to them? What to them? Afshin has not committed any crime. Why should the same tragedy of 7 years in prison be repeated for Afshin again? If the Turkish government does not want Afshin Sohrabzadeh to stay in Turkey for any reason, the right solution is to delegate it to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to send him as a political refugee to a third country, not to extradite him to the Islamic Republic of Iran!
Lily Faraji is the sister of Maryam Faraji, who was arrested during the street protests on January 2, 2018 on Enghelab Street. On April 4, 2018 the Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 3 years of imprisonment and 2 additional year of banned from leaving the country. But at the very same year, she was suspiciously found dead! Lily Faraji is one of the supporters of the women’s indictment in the Women’s Revolution and one of the signatories of the boycott of the Islamic Republic and suffers from fibromyalgia and thyroid disease. If she returns to Iran, it is very possible that she will face the same fate as her sister faced.
Zeinab Sahafi, better known as Zeinab Persepolis, for defending women’s right to enter the sporting facilities, is a women’s rights activist who has been repeatedly detained and harassed by security forces; and Esmaeil Fattahi and Mohammad Pourakbari are political activists opposed to the Islamic Republic, are two other detained asylum seekers in Turkey.
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees once again urges the Turkish government to suspend the deportation of these asylum seekers and calls for their immediate release. The transfer of these asylum seekers to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is the smallest humane step that public opinion expects from the Turkish government.
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees
۱۴th, April, 2021