Ref: Mr. Shahryar Arabshahi, refugee applicant in Spain. Born 01-01-1975.
Case #: NIE X6997888-T
I am writing on behalf of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) to express our dismay and, indeed, distress about the rejection of Mr. Sheibani’s application for refugee status in Spain. Shahryar Arabshahi is an anti-Iranian-regime activist who has fled Iran for fear of his life. This fact alone qualifies him, according to the very definition of Refugee in the Geneva Convention, to be granted the status he has applied for and enjoy the protection and material support he will be entitled to thereof. Unfortunately, despite declaring those facts by Mr. Arabshahi, Spanish immigration office has rejected his application claiming that his life will not be put in jeopardy in Iran. We are obligated to inform you that as a result of this rejection and the consequent horror of deportation to Iran Shahryar Arabshahi has fallen prey to severe psychological disorders. His mental condition has been certified his treating psychiatrist.
It should be mentioned that after the revolution of 1979 Mr. Arabshahi’s brother was arrested by the new regime Islamic regime and sentenced to death for his opposition to it. Fortunately, he succeeded in escaping from prison and seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom. In 2005 Shahryar, from Iran, and his brother, from UK, decide to meet in Turkey and spend some time together. Upon returning to Iran Shahryar is arrested by the Iranian boarder guards in the city of Orumiye, Western Azerbaijan. He spends 3 months in jail until he is released as a result of his family’s day-and-night endeavors. After freedom from prison Shahryar does not feel safe in Iran anymore. Firstly, because he himself is now an ex-prisoner that is at the mercy of the security forces who could re-arrest him again for any arbitrary reason depending on the level of political intimidation the regime needs to subject the socially to at any one moment, a simple rule of thumb which is common knowledge in Iran. Secondly, he has now returned from meeting his brother, an ex-political ‘convict’ who has fled the Islamic regime’s death row! That is why Shahryar decided to flee Iran as soon as he could, hoping to seek refuge in Spain.
I would like to remind the government as well as the Spanish immigration office that this is a delicate case and a matter of life and death. Please bear in mind that what is currently happening to the people of Iran is neither unknown to the governments nor to the people of the world. For the past 31 years a pre-medieval, theocratic regime has been terrorizing its own people on a daily basis in order to stay in power just to plunder the countries natural resources and exploit the working people to the utmost. It has utilized every anti-human means, from throwing acid at the women’s face to establish its Hijab in the beginning to flogging, from torture to amputation of limbs, from systematic rape of political prisoners, both men and women, to mass executions of non-political prisoners, from the massacre of political prisoners especially during 1981-88 to stoning – so far at least 195 individuals – to death, from the detention of even lawyers whose ‘crime’ is to have defended either their own ‘domesticated’ opposition figures, known as the reformists, or those non-political prisoners whom the regime has need, and still needs, to execute (murder) for specific political reasons at any particular time during its 31 years of existence, and so on, and so forth. Killing for the purpose of intimidating the society at large and survive has been the sole thesis the regime has ruled by specifically since May 1, 2009 when an innocent girl, Delara Darabi, was executed at the dawn of the International Workers’ Day because groups of workers had announced that they will come out and celebrate the day. Since then the so-called judicial system of the Islamic Republic has been turned into a killing machine. Just imagine a judicial system whose head, Ayatollah Larijani, publicly announced about a week ago that all those who have committed armed robbery or rape will be executed! It is a fact, recently acknowledged and condemned internationally, that the Iranian regime needs to shed blood in order to intimidate hoping to survive the millions strong referendum last year whose result was a resounding “NO!” to 31 years of terrorism.
Now, in view of the above, I would like to ask, is it ever conceivable to Spanish immigration authorities that under such murderous conditions in Iran Shahryar Arabshahi’s life will not be put in jeopardy in case of deportation to Iran? I, therefore, request that Shahryar Arabshahi be granted the status of refugee in Spain according to Section 3 of Article 51 of the Geneva Convention, and be rightfully granted the protection, health as well as material support that the said convention grants him.
Thank you very much,
Abdollah Asadi
Secretary,
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (Hambastegi, Soliadrity)
Dec. 25, 2010
