announced it will deport them back to Iran. Widow Zivar Khademian and her children face prison and a possibly death penalty in Iran for converting to Christianity, while one of her daughters may be forced to marry a Muslim, Compass Direct, a Christian news agency, said.
A deportation order was reportedly issued last week, October 5, by Turkish police in Kastamonu, 130 miles (208 kilometers) north of Turkey, following three years of failed attempts to obtain the United Nations refugee status.
The family decided to leave Iran in January 2003 after it became known among relatives, neighbors and local authorities that she and her children had abandoned the Muslim religion to become Christians. Conviction of apostasy carries the death penalty under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.
In addittion Khademian wanted to prevent a strict Muslim relative of her late husband from marrying her daughter Fatemah Moini, who had been promised in marriage to this cousin at her birth. Now 35, the cousin lives in the Islamic holy city of Qom and is an active member of the Basij, a volunteer militia that enforces Iran’s severe Islamic codes, said Compass Direct, which has close ties with persecuted Christians in the region.
BAPTISM SERVICE
The widowed Khademian together with her daughter Fatemeh Moini, 19, and sons Hossein and Kazem Moini, both in their early 30s, were baptized several years ago by a Protestant church in Tehran after accepting Christianity.
Soon after that event, Kazem Moini was arrested and jailed in May 2002, Compass Direct claimed. During a raid on their home, police found Christian and other cassette tapes that he had been duplicating secretly.
Turkey, which started negotiations on European Union membership, has been under international pressure to respect human rights, but it was unclear whether authorities would intervene to stop the deportation of the Christians.
MANY REFUGEES
Analysts say only a handful of nations will grant even limited visas to any of the thousands of Iranian refugees in Turkey trying to find resettlement abroad.
Although Turkey issues an automatic three-month visa to Iranian citizens, its immigration procedures resist attempts to resettle Iranians in a third country, Compass Direct reported from Istanbul.
With an October 20 deadline hanging over them, the family of four apparently fled Kastamonu and plans to seek anonymity in one of Turkey’s large cities while searching for some visa option. “If we cannot find a legal way to leave Turkey," one of them was quoted as saying. “we will go into hiding to avoid arrest and deportation back to Iran." (With reports from Turkey and Iran).
