From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

Christian converts are among the Iranians being sent home from US
11 hours ago
Leyla Khodabakhshi
EPA A woman's hand is holding a lit candle and placing it in a row of
candles, in what appears to be a church. EPA
A woman lights a candle at a church in Tehran

One Monday in mid-October, after a year in US immigration detention,
officers arrived unannounced at Majid's cell in Texas.

They told him simply to "pack up" - that he was being moved - even though
an immigration judge had already granted him protection from removal five months ago. Shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, he was driven through the night to a military airfield in Louisiana.

Majid - not his real name - had fled Iran for the US in October 2024, after repeated detentions and alleged torture, first because of his involvement
in the Mahsa Amini protests, and later because of his conversion to Christianity.

When US officials forced him to board a plane carrying more than 150
deportees heading to Managua, Nicaragua, he remembers being the only
non�Latin American on the plane. Hours later, the flight landed and
officials handcuffed him, denied his request for asylum and directed him
onto an itinerary routing him through Venezuela and Turkey toward Iran - a journey he understood as a forced return.

Majid later was able to go into hiding in Istanbul, terrified of what
awaited him back in Iran. He is one of several Iranian Christian converts
who spoke to the BBC - most anonymously out of fear for relatives back home
- whose asylum claims have been rejected in the past year. Their accounts point to inconsistencies in how US authorities assess the risks facing
Iranian returnees and how sensitive religious information in asylum files
is handled.

Their experiences also run contrast to other elements of US foreign policy,
as President Trump publicly laments the plight of Christian persecutions abroad, threatening to send troops into Nigeria "guns a-blazing" if its government "continues to allow the killing of Christians".

A White House official told the BBC that all individuals deported have had their asylum claims fully adjudicated before removal. The official said
that recent deportations to Iran involved people with final orders of
removal or those who had requested voluntary departure. They added that
strict confidentiality rules prevent officials from disclosing whether
someone applied for asylum and was denied.

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A rare deportation flight

As the US continues its crackdown on illegal immigration, it has made unprecedented changes to its policy towards Iranian asylum seekers. In late September, authorities arranged a chartered flight to Iran via Qatar - the first of its kind in decades, given the absence of diplomatic ties and
Iran's human-rights record. The flight represented an unusual example of cooperation between Iran and the US.

Dozens of Iranians were placed on the flight, reportedly in shackles. One deportee, Sina, later described armed guards escorting passengers on the Qatar�Tehran leg. On arrival, they were questioned about their time in the
US and their religious activities but were not immediately arrested, he
said in a video, which was posted on a Farsi-language YouTube channel.

Among the passengers was the wife of Ali, an Iranian Christian convert now living in the US. She has since been contacted and summoned by Iranian intelligence.

"They deported my wife back to Iran even though she is a Christian," Ali
says - the BBC has given him a pseudonym to protect the identity of him and his wife. "Now Iranian intelligence is after her and me."

For Ali's wife and others, the danger was heightened by what their lawyers
say was a critical mistake.

Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Ali, his wife, and another deportee
from the September flight says several clients reported that sensitive information - including statements about religious conversion, political activity and the reasons they sought asylum - was not removed before deportation.

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Getty Images Torosian stands in front of the White House gate holding a
sign that says: Iranian Christians ran from prison. Now ICE gives them a
new one.Getty Images
Pastor Ara Torosian says Iranian Christians fear what will happen to them
if deported back to Iran
Why returning is dangerous for Christian converts

Converts from Islam make up a significant share of Iran's 800, 000
Christian population, says Steve Dew-Jones of Article 18, a UK-based
advocacy group that monitors violations against Christians in the country.

With officially recognised churches tightly restricted, house churches have begun to emerge across the country. But practitioners continue to face persecution, Dew-Jones says.

Converting from Islam is treated as apostasy, and converts face arrest, interrogation and prison terms.

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Arrests have increased sixfold between 2023 and 2024, the Center for Human Rights in Iran reports. "Since the recent Iran�Israel clashes, we've seen
the authorities use the term 'Zionist Christianity' even more aggressively.
By branding converts as agents of Israel, the state frames ordinary
religious practice as a national-security threat," Dew-Jones adds.

Some Iranians seeking asylum abroad cite conversion as part of their claim, while Iranian officials accuse them of exaggerating or fabricating
conversions to strengthen their cases.

But it is unclear how many US asylum cases may be exaggerated, versus real fear of persecution.

"It's impossible to judge the sincerity of someone's faith - there's no
window into people's souls," Dew-Jones says. "Yes, the system can be
abused, but we also see many legitimate converts whose testimonies and
church records aren't taken seriously by asylum courts."
Life on hold for those left behind

Asylum outcomes can diverge sharply even within a single household, Iranian asylum seekers and legal experts say.

In late June, ICE officers arrived at Marjan and Reza's house in Los
Angeles. In video filmed by their pastor, Marjan is seen collapsed outside
as agents detain her husband. Moments earlier she had called him pleading
for help. The couple - both Christian converts from Iran who had applied
for asylum in the US - were taken to separate detention centres. Weeks
later, their cases diverged: Marjan was granted asylum in California, while Reza, held in New Mexico, was ordered to be removed to a third country.

After their June arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said on its X account that "during a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles,
Border Patrol agent apprehended two Iranian nationals unlawfully present in the US - both flagged as subjects of national security interest."
Submitted photo Marjan lies on ground on her front lawn while immigration officers stand by and offer assistanceSubmitted photo
A screenshot of the video filmed by Pastor Ara, showing Reza and Marjan
being detained by immigration enforcement

Pastor Ara Torosian, who filmed their arrest, disputes the Department of Homeland Security's claim that the couple were unlawfully present in the
US.

He says they entered legally through a humanitarian programme and had work authorisations. "How can it be dangerous for the wife but not for the husband?" asks pastor, Ara Torosian, who himself fled Iran in 2010 after
being detained for smuggling Bibles.

Majid, who managed to slip through the airport in Turkey, has been living
in limbo since, while his lawyer follows up on his case. His wife, whose asylum case is still pending, now lives in Los Angeles with their 1.5-year-
old daughter - a child who has never met her father.

In the US, Ali is living with a friend from his church, and hoping his own asylum claim will be more successful than that of his wife, who was
deported to Iran this year.

"If they grant me asylum, how can I stay here when my wife is in Iran? If
they deport me, I could go to prison the moment I land."

Unable to work legally or open a bank account. He first stayed with a
distant relative "just until my wife's case was resolved," but she was
never released and, after nearly a year in detention, was deported. A small church later offered him temporary shelter.

"Anytime they ask me to leave, I have to sleep in parks," he says.

He is awaiting an immigration hearing but sees no good outcome. His wife
has received another summons from Iranian intelligence.

"If they arrest her and demand I return," he says quietly, "I'll have no choice."
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