Latest news with #IranianChristians
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iranian Christians feared death in Iran. Then the US deported them to Panama.
The young woman in the video sounds desperate. Sitting on a bed in a hotel room surrounded by eight other people, including several children, she explains to the camera that they're all Iranian Christians who journeyed to the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana to seek asylum – then were shackled and flown six hours in a military plane to Panama. 'All of our cases are legitimate,' she says, her eyes burrowing with worry. 'I'm a protester in Iran with a record. I can't go back.' The woman – later identified as 27-year-old Artemis Ghasemzadeh – was part of a group of Iranian Christians, as well as migrants from Afghanistan, Nepal, China and other countries, who were recently flown from the U.S. to Panama and Costa Rica. The flights are part of President Donald Trump and his administration's strategy of outsourcing some of its most challenging deportations and removing as many people as possible who are in the U.S. without permission. On Thursday, the administration took another step designating eight gangs from Latin America as "foreign terrorist organizations," increasing the reach of U.S. law enforcement as they race to deport record number of migrants and deliver on one of Trump's biggest campaign promises. But these deportation flights trample migrant's rights and could return some asylum-seekers to dangerous situations, immigrant advocates and attorneys say. 'This is unprecedented,' Hillary Walsh, an immigration attorney in Phoenix whose office has been in touch with the Iranians in Panama, said of the new flights. 'It's not making asylum law hard – it's eliminating asylum law.' Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the deportations, did not respond to a request for comment. Ghasemzadeh and the other Iranians traveled through several countries, including Mexico, to reach the U.S.-Mexico border at Tijuana, Walsh said. After they crossed the border, U.S. officials took their passports and other documents and gave them immigration detention wristbands. They were never given 'credible fear' interviews, Walsh said, often the first step to determining whether migrants could apply for asylum. The migrants were told detention centers there were full and they were transporting them to Texas, Walsh said. Instead, they were shackled, boarded onto a C-17 military cargo plane and flown to Panama. 'They tied our hands and feet,' Ghasemzadeh says in the video, which, as of Wednesday, had been shared more than 160,000 times. 'Women and children were getting sick, fainting … You could hear cries and horrifying noises from the plane.' As of 2019, there were about 385,000 Iranian immigrants living in the United States, or less than 1 percent of the nearly 45 million immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That year, there were approximately 7,000 unauthorized Iranian immigrants, or less than 0.1% of the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. Iranian Christians present a particularly compelling asylum case, according to immigrant advocates, since the Iranian government prohibits converting from Islam to any religion. Sharia, or Islamic religious law, as interpreted by the government considers conversion from Islam apostasy, a crime punishable by death, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority of Iranians who arrive in the U.S. do so through a third country, often Turkey, and with the proper visas, said Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, an L.A.-based advocacy group that helps mostly Persian-speaking migrants. Over the past four or five months, however, his center has seen an uptick in Iranians arriving at the border who complain that their wait times in third countries are stretching past five or six years, he said. Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians, he said. Malaz said he was dismayed to hear of the Iranian Christians who were flown to Panama without any process for asylum. 'I was shocked,' he said. 'The United States has always been a beacon of hope for refugees. These people are running away from an autocratic government.' The Iranian Christians were part of a flight of 119 people who arrived in Panama aboard the C-17 on February 12, the first of three flights to arrive in the country the past week, said Tom Cartwright, who tracks deportation flights using publicly available flight records for the advocacy group Witness at the Border. Another flight filled with migrants later landed in Costa Rica. More: 'Woman, life, liberty': Iranians on why they'll risk beatings and death for change The last time the U.S. government transported migrants to a third country that was not their country of origin was when immigration officials flew asylum-seekers from Guatemala, Honduras and other countries to southern Mexico under the Biden administration, Cartwright said. Those flights ended in late 2022. The use of military cargo flights is baffling, he said, since U.S. officials could transport migrants on commercial charter flights for a fraction of the cost. Also, some of the nationalities on the flights, such as Nepal and India, the U.S. could deport directly to their countries of origin rather than pay to take them through a third country, Cartwright said. More: OnPolitics: Why Iranians are fighting for their freedom 'From a financial sense, it makes no sense at all. Zero,' he said. Cartwright said he and other immigrant advocates suspect Trump is using an executive order he signed last month to invoke a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president the authority to 'suspend the entry' of certain noncitizens, whose entry would be 'detrimental to the interests of the United States.' Earlier this month, immigrant rights groups sued the Trump administration in federal court, claiming the executive order unlawfully shut down asylum at the border. 'This is an unprecedented power grab that will put countless lives in danger,' Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement accompanying the filing. 'No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger.' On Tuesday, Ghasemzadeh and the other Iranians were transferred from their hotel in Panama City to a remote migrant center at the edge of the jungle, according to Walsh's office. It's unclear what rights and procedures are being afforded to them. Attorneys are trying to help her and others, Walsh said. But at such a distance and with communication a challenge, it's becoming increasingly difficult, Walsh said. Her top concern: That Ghasemzadeh and the others could be returned to Iran. 'They'll definitely be harmed when they go back,' Walsh said. 'There's no question in my mind.' Follow Rick Jervis on X: @MrRJervis. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: They feared death in Iran. The US banished them to Panama.
USA Today
20-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Iranian Christians feared death in Iran. Then the US deported them to Panama.
Iranian Christians feared death in Iran. Then the US deported them to Panama. Show Caption Hide Caption Critics question the legality of undocumented migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay For the first time around ten undocumented migrants arrived at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base. The U.S. government has begun flying migrants to Panama and Costa Rica as part of a strategy to increase deportations. Immigrant advocates say the flights violate migrants' rights and could put asylum-seekers in danger. The young woman in the video sounds desperate. Sitting on a bed in a hotel room surrounded by eight other people, including several children, she explains to the camera that they're all Iranian Christians who journeyed to the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana to seek asylum – then were shackled and flown six hours in a military plane to Panama. 'All of our cases are legitimate,' she says, her eyes burrowing with worry. 'I'm a protester in Iran with a record. I can't go back.' The woman – later identified as 27-year-old Artemis Ghasemzadeh – was part of a group of Iranian Christians, as well as migrants from Afghanistan, Nepal, China and other countries, who were recently flown from the U.S. to Panama and Costa Rica. The flights are part of President Donald Trump and his administration's strategy of outsourcing some of its most challenging deportations and removing as many people as possible who are in the U.S. without permission. On Thursday, the administration took another step designating eight gangs from Latin America as "foreign terrorist organizations," increasing the reach of U.S. law enforcement as they race to deport record number of migrants and deliver on one of Trump's biggest campaign promises. But these deportation flights trample migrant's rights and could return some asylum-seekers to dangerous situations, immigrant advocates and attorneys say. 'This is unprecedented,' Hillary Walsh, an immigration attorney in Phoenix whose office has been in touch with the Iranians in Panama, said of the new flights. 'It's not making asylum law hard – it's eliminating asylum law.' Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the deportations, did not respond to a request for comment. 'Cries and horrifying noises' Ghasemzadeh and the other Iranians traveled through several countries, including Mexico, to reach the U.S.-Mexico border at Tijuana, Walsh said. After they crossed the border, U.S. officials took their passports and other documents and gave them immigration detention wristbands. They were never given 'credible fear' interviews, Walsh said, often the first step to determining whether migrants could apply for asylum. The migrants were told detention centers there were full and they were transporting them to Texas, Walsh said. Instead, they were shackled, boarded onto a C-17 military cargo plane and flown to Panama. 'They tied our hands and feet,' Ghasemzadeh says in the video, which, as of Wednesday, had been shared more than 160,000 times. 'Women and children were getting sick, fainting … You could hear cries and horrifying noises from the plane.' As of 2019, there were about 385,000 Iranian immigrants living in the United States, or less than 1 percent of the nearly 45 million immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That year, there were approximately 7,000 unauthorized Iranian immigrants, or less than 0.1% of the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. Iranian Christians present a particularly compelling asylum case, according to immigrant advocates, since the Iranian government prohibits converting from Islam to any religion. Sharia, or Islamic religious law, as interpreted by the government considers conversion from Islam apostasy, a crime punishable by death, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority of Iranians who arrive in the U.S. do so through a third country, often Turkey, and with the proper visas, said Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, an L.A.-based advocacy group that helps mostly Persian-speaking migrants. More Iranians arrive at the border Over the past four or five months, however, his center has seen an uptick in Iranians arriving at the border who complain that their wait times in third countries are stretching past five or six years, he said. Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians, he said. Malaz said he was dismayed to hear of the Iranian Christians who were flown to Panama without any process for asylum. 'I was shocked,' he said. 'The United States has always been a beacon of hope for refugees. These people are running away from an autocratic government.' The Iranian Christians were part of a flight of 119 people who arrived in Panama aboard the C-17 on February 12, the first of three flights to arrive in the country the past week, said Tom Cartwright, who tracks deportation flights using publicly available flight records for the advocacy group Witness at the Border. Another flight filled with migrants later landed in Costa Rica. More: 'Woman, life, liberty': Iranians on why they'll risk beatings and death for change The last time the U.S. government transported migrants to a third country that was not their country of origin was when immigration officials flew asylum-seekers from Guatemala, Honduras and other countries to southern Mexico under the Biden administration, Cartwright said. Those flights ended in late 2022. The use of military cargo flights is baffling, he said, since U.S. officials could transport migrants on commercial charter flights for a fraction of the cost. Also, some of the nationalities on the flights, such as Nepal and India, the U.S. could deport directly to their countries of origin rather than pay to take them through a third country, Cartwright said. More: OnPolitics: Why Iranians are fighting for their freedom 'From a financial sense, it makes no sense at all. Zero,' he said. 'They'll definitely be harmed' Cartwright said he and other immigrant advocates suspect Trump is using an executive order he signed last month to invoke a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president the authority to 'suspend the entry' of certain noncitizens, whose entry would be 'detrimental to the interests of the United States.' Earlier this month, immigrant rights groups sued the Trump administration in federal court, claiming the executive order unlawfully shut down asylum at the border. 'This is an unprecedented power grab that will put countless lives in danger,' Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement accompanying the filing. 'No president has the authority to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger.' On Tuesday, Ghasemzadeh and the other Iranians were transferred from their hotel in Panama City to a remote migrant center at the edge of the jungle, according to Walsh's office. It's unclear what rights and procedures are being afforded to them. Attorneys are trying to help her and others, Walsh said. But at such a distance and with communication a challenge, it's becoming increasingly difficult, Walsh said. Her top concern: That Ghasemzadeh and the others could be returned to Iran. 'They'll definitely be harmed when they go back,' Walsh said. 'There's no question in my mind.' Follow Rick Jervis on X: @MrRJervis.
Boston Globe
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Migrants, deported to Panama under Trump plan, detained in remote jungle camp
'It looks like a zoo; there are fenced cages,' said one deportee, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, 27, a migrant from Iran, after arriving at the camp following a four-hour drive from Panama City. 'They gave us a stale piece of bread. We are sitting on the floor.' Advertisement The group includes eight children, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak on the record. Lawyers have said it is illegal to detain people in Panama for more than 24 hours without a court order. The Panamanian government has not made an official announcement about the transfer to the jungle camp. In a broadcast interview Wednesday with the local news program Panamá En Directo, the country's security minister, Frank Ábrego, did not discuss the move. But he said that migrants were being held by Panama 'for their own protection,' and because officials 'need to verify who they are.' The transfer is the latest move in a weeklong saga for a group of about 300 migrants who arrived in the United States hoping to seek asylum. The group was sent to Panama, which has agreed to aid President Donald Trump in his plan to deport millions of migrants living in the US without legal permission. The agreement is part of a larger strategy by the Trump administration to export some of its most difficult migration challenges to other nations. The United States, for varying reasons, cannot easily deport people to countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and China, but by applying intense pressure, it has managed to persuade Panama to take some of them. Advertisement After being sent to Panama, the deported migrants are no longer subject to US law. Costa Rica is also taking some deportees, including migrants originally from Central Asia and India, and has said it plans to repatriate them. A flight from the United States is expected to arrive in Costa Rica on Thursday. Upon arrival in Panama City last week, the 300 or so migrants were taken to a downtown hotel, called the Decapolis, and barred from leaving, several of them told The New York Times in calls and text messages. A lawyer seeking to represent many of them, Jenny Soto Fernández, was blocked at least four times from visiting them in the hotel, she said. At the hotel, the United Nations International Organization for Migration has been speaking with migrants about their options, according to the government, and offering flights to their home countries to those who want them. Some, including a group of Iranian Christians and a man from China, told the Times that they risk reprisals if returned to their native countries and have refused to sign documents that would pave the way for their repatriation. Under Iranian law, converting from Islam is considered apostasy and is a crime punishable by death. On Tuesday morning, an article published by the Times attracted attention to the migrants' situation, and members of the Panamanian news media began surrounding the hotel. That night, guards at the hotel told people to pack their bags, said Ghasemzadeh, one of the Christian converts from Iran. Several buses arrived, and guards led them aboard, as witnessed by a reporter working for the Times. Then the bus traveled out of Panama City, east and then farther east, to the province of Darién. Advertisement Two migrants used their cellphones to share their real-time location with the Times, allowing reporters to track their movements. On the bus, at least one woman cried, according to a photograph sent by a person on the bus. The camp where the 100 or so migrants will stay is called San Vicente and sits at the end of a jungle, also called the Darién, which links Panama to Colombia. The camp was built years ago as a stopover point for migrants coming north from Colombia through the Darién jungle and into Panama, a harrowing part of the journey north to the United States. Now the Panamanian government is using it for deportees. On Tuesday, Ábrego told reporters at a news conference that 170 of the 300 or so migrants had volunteered to be sent back to their countries of origin, journeys that would be arranged by the International Organization for Migration. He described the decision to hold the migrants as part of an accord with the United States. 'What we agreed with the United States government is that they remain and are in our temporary custody for their protection,' he said. On Wednesday, he said that 12 people from Uzbekistan and India had been repatriated with the help of the International Organization for Migration. Officials also said Wednesday that one of the migrants in their custody, a woman from China, had escaped from the hotel. In a message posted to the social platform X, the country's migration service asked for help in finding her, saying authorities feared she would fall into the hands of human traffickers. Advertisement 'As a State security entity,' authorities wrote on X, 'our commitment is to combat illegal migration' while complying with 'national and international principles and regulations on human rights.' The Panamanian government has previously said the migrants had no criminal records. On Wednesday morning, from the Darién region, Ghasemzadeh described a sweltering encampment, overrun with cats and dogs. Then, she sent a text message saying that authorities were confiscating all phones. Her last words: 'Please try to help us.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
President Trump urged to confront Iranian regime over repression of Christians
Iran is reported to have launched a new crackdown against Iranian Christians this month following the re-arrest of two men. According to a Feb. 10 report on the website of the U.K.-based NGO Article18, which seeks to protect religious freedom in Iran, "Two Christians in their 60s who were released after a combined six years in prison on charges related to their leadership of house-churches have been re-arrested." Iranian regime intelligence agents re-arrested the two Christians, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian, and incarcerated both men in Tehran's brutal Evin Prison. Gol-Tapeh is reportedly on a hunger strike over "unlawful re-arrest," noted Article 18, which advocates on behalf of persecuted Iranian Christians. Iran Has World's 'Fastest-growing Church,' Despite No Buildings - And It's Mostly Led By Women: Documentary Article18 said a "number of other Tehran Christians were also arrested at the same time and remain in custody." Iranian-Americans and Iranian dissidents are urging the Trump administration to shine a spotlight on the ubiquitous Iranian regime human rights violations while imposing punitive measures on the clerical state in Tehran. Read On The Fox News App Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, "Christians in Iran are relentlessly persecuted by the Islamist regime. The Trump administration should highlight their plight publicly while putting maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime." Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a German-Iranian political scientist, who is a leading expert on religious minorities in Iran, told Fox News Digital, according to the Christian advocacy organization OpenDoors 2025 annual report, "Christian discrimination in Iran remains extremely severe, scoring 86 out of 100 points and ranking 9th among the worst countries for Christian persecution." He added, "The government views Christian converts as a threat to national security, believing they are influenced by Western nations to undermine Islam and the regime. As a result, Christian converts face severe religious freedom violations, including arrests [and] long prison sentences." Students In Iran Continue Protests Over 19-Year-old's Murder On Campus For Second Day Wahdat-Hagh continued, "Those who leave Islam to follow Christianity are the most vulnerable. They are denied legal recognition and are frequently targeted by security forces." One Iranian Christian who fled Iran to Germany to practice her faith free from persecution is Sheina Vojoudi. She told Fox News Digital, "As the belief in Islam keeps going down in Iran, the important growth of Christianity has deeply alarmed the Islamic Republic, a theocratic dictatorship. Iran has seen an outstanding rise in the number of Christian converts, despite the decidedly oppressive environment. International human rights groups often consider Christian converts to be political prisoners of conscience, meaning that even after arrest and release, they remain in constant danger of re-arrest and severe punishment." The dire situation of Iranian Christians prompted the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, to sound the alarm bells in a video presentation organized by Article 18. "The situation of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a matter of serious concern that demands our continued attention," she said. Iran Proxies Engaged In 'Invisible Jihad' Against Christians In Middle East, Report Warns The most recent U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Iran (2023) states, "The government continued to regulate Christian religious practices. Christian worship in Farsi was forbidden and official reports and state-run media continued to characterize private Christian churches in homes as 'illegal networks' and 'Zionist propaganda institutions."' The number of Christians in Iran is difficult to pinpoint because of the widespread repression of the faith. According to the State Department report, the Iranian regime's Statistical Center claims there are 117,700 Christians of recognized denominations as of the 2016 census. Boston University's 2020 World Religion Database notes there are roughly 579,000 Christians in Iran, while Article 18 estimates there are 500,000 to 800,000. Open Doors reports the number at 1.24 million. The Trump administration re-imposed, in early February, its maximum economic pressure campaign on Iran's regime to reverse Tehran's drive to build a nuclear weapon and stop its spread of Islamist terrorism. Vojoudi, an associate fellow at the U.S.-based Gold Institute for International Strategy, told Fox News Digital, "Now is the time for European nations and the United States to take meaningful action, not only by holding the Islamic Republic accountable for its support of terrorism and extremist groups, but also by prosecuting it on the international stage for violating one of the most fundamental human rights: the freedom of religion. "This is critical not only for the safety of Christian converts but also to reaffirm the values of freedom and human dignity that these nations claim to uphold." Multiple Fox News Digital press queries to Iran's foreign ministry and its U.N. mission in New York were not returned. Fox News Digital asked if the government would release Iranians imprisoned for merely practicing their Christian article source: President Trump urged to confront Iranian regime over repression of Christians
Fox News
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
President Trump urged to confront Iranian regime over repression of Christians
Iran is reported to have launched a new crackdown against Iranian Christians this month following the re-arrest of two men. According to a Feb. 10 report on the website of the U.K.-based NGO Article18, which seeks to protect religious freedom in Iran, "Two Christians in their 60s who were released after a combined six years in prison on charges related to their leadership of house-churches have been re-arrested." Iranian regime intelligence agents re-arrested the two Christians, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian, and incarcerated both men in Tehran's brutal Evin Prison. Gol-Tapeh is reportedly on a hunger strike over "unlawful re-arrest," noted Article 18, which advocates on behalf of persecuted Iranian Christians. Article18 said a "number of other Tehran Christians were also arrested at the same time and remain in custody." Iranian-Americans and Iranian dissidents are urging the Trump administration to shine a spotlight on the ubiquitous Iranian regime human rights violations while imposing punitive measures on the clerical state in Tehran. Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, "Christians in Iran are relentlessly persecuted by the Islamist regime. The Trump administration should highlight their plight publicly while putting maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime." Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a German-Iranian political scientist, who is a leading expert on religious minorities in Iran, told Fox News Digital, according to the Christian advocacy organization OpenDoors 2025 annual report, "Christian discrimination in Iran remains extremely severe, scoring 86 out of 100 points and ranking 9th among the worst countries for Christian persecution." He added, "The government views Christian converts as a threat to national security, believing they are influenced by Western nations to undermine Islam and the regime. As a result, Christian converts face severe religious freedom violations, including arrests [and] long prison sentences." Wahdat-Hagh continued, "Those who leave Islam to follow Christianity are the most vulnerable. They are denied legal recognition and are frequently targeted by security forces." One Iranian Christian who fled Iran to Germany to practice her faith free from persecution is Sheina Vojoudi. She told Fox News Digital, "As the belief in Islam keeps going down in Iran, the important growth of Christianity has deeply alarmed the Islamic Republic, a theocratic dictatorship. Iran has seen an outstanding rise in the number of Christian converts, despite the decidedly oppressive environment. International human rights groups often consider Christian converts to be political prisoners of conscience, meaning that even after arrest and release, they remain in constant danger of re-arrest and severe punishment." The dire situation of Iranian Christians prompted the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, to sound the alarm bells in a video presentation organized by Article 18. "The situation of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a matter of serious concern that demands our continued attention," she said. The most recent U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Iran (2023) states, "The government continued to regulate Christian religious practices. Christian worship in Farsi was forbidden and official reports and state-run media continued to characterize private Christian churches in homes as 'illegal networks' and 'Zionist propaganda institutions."' The number of Christians in Iran is difficult to pinpoint because of the widespread repression of the faith. According to the State Department report, the Iranian regime's Statistical Center claims there are 117,700 Christians of recognized denominations as of the 2016 census. Boston University's 2020 World Religion Database notes there are roughly 579,000 Christians in Iran, while Article 18 estimates there are 500,000 to 800,000. Open Doors reports the number at 1.24 million. The Trump administration re-imposed, in early February, its maximum economic pressure campaign on Iran's regime to reverse Tehran's drive to build a nuclear weapon and stop its spread of Islamist terrorism. Vojoudi, an associate fellow at the U.S.-based Gold Institute for International Strategy, told Fox News Digital, "Now is the time for European nations and the United States to take meaningful action, not only by holding the Islamic Republic accountable for its support of terrorism and extremist groups, but also by prosecuting it on the international stage for violating one of the most fundamental human rights: the freedom of religion. "This is critical not only for the safety of Christian converts but also to reaffirm the values of freedom and human dignity that these nations claim to uphold." Multiple Fox News Digital press queries to Iran's foreign ministry and its U.N. mission in New York were not returned. Fox News Digital asked if the government would release Iranians imprisoned for merely practicing their Christian faith.
