Bad news for Iranian converts
CONSEQUENCES FOR ASYLUM POLICY: - The change in the Iranian Penal Code makes it imprudent to return the Iranians who have come forward to say they have converted, said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, head of the Iran Human Rights.
PHOTO: Vahid Salemi
Bad news for Iranian converts
The danger that converts will be executed in Iran has increased dramatically. Guardian Council has approved a long-feared change in criminal law. - Norway should stop returning converts, said Iranian human rights advocate.
The clever way, Iran has increased the power to judge converts to death.The Iranian parliament has for years worked on a revision of the Penal Code. The draft new law included the death penalty for converts. Writing the death penalty in the Penal Code would mean a dramatic tightening of the ban on conversion. The proposal therefore attracted massive international protests.
When the Iranian Guardian Council recently gave its final approval of the new Penal Code, the wording on the death penalty apparently removed.Instead, it was written a reference to the Constitution Article 167, which refers to Sharia Law Hudoud rules that require the death penalty for several crimes - including conversion. - This is effectively the same. It is a discreet way to make the death penalty for converts more accessible, said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, head of the Iran Human Rights and award-winning neuroscientist. - There is a principle in Iran that any punishment should be done with reference to a law. As long as the death penalty was only prescribed by Sharia law, but not in Iranian secular law limited the right to impose the death penalty, he explains. Amiry-Moghaddam has in recent days been in close contact with lawyers in Iran to get clear what was in the final text of the Act. Very serious amendment can have dramatic consequences for Youssef Naderkhani pastor who has had a death sentence hanging over him since 2010, and for the whole of the Iranian underground church. It's also bad news for the Iranian converts in Norway who fear forced return to their home country. Amiry-Moghaddam describes the amendment as very serious. He thinks it must have immediate consequences for the Norwegian asylum policy: - With the recent change in criminal law, it is irresponsible to return the Iranians who have come forward to say they have converted. Norwegian authorities have to take into account these changes, he says, adding that the risk of return is also great for political refugees: - No matter where in the world you have violated the regime, can be punished for it according to Iranian law. Outside the Country Christian Democratic Party requires that Norwegian asylum policy must be adapted to Iran's new laws. - There is now a proven fact that all converts with safety being executed in Iran.Then it must be abundantly clear that we can not send them back, says Geir Jorgen Bekkevold, Member of Parliament for the Christian Democratic Party. He thinks Norway weakens its international reputation converts returned to persecution in Iran. - Earlier Norwegian immigration administration asserted that as long as the convert holder their faith as a private matter, so they will be safe upon return. - Other asylum seekers are suspected to have changed beliefs just to get into the country. Such considerations, we can not take the chance anymore, believe Bekkevold.Bekkevold states that such practices must cease. Monitors Acting UDI director of the asylum department Tone Loge Tveter say they are monitoring the situation in Iran closely. - If the situation has changed, something we are working to get a confirmation, it will be considered in each case. We will not send anyone back to countries where they are persecuted, says Loge Tveter. DAY Religion not a private matter , Iranian authorities have in recent years led an intense campaign against Christians. The organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide digestibility in a report last fall that more than 300 Christians had been arrested across the country over the past year. After the report was published, there have been many more arrests. Amiry-Moghaddam see tightening of the death penalty in connection with the government offensive against converts: - The authorities have expressed strong concern that so many turn their backs on religion, he says and continues: - Iran a totalitarian regime that uses Islam as both an ideology and as a glue to attach people to him. Religion is no longer a private matter. Any protest against Islam is perceived as an opposition against the regime. It should for example be a personal choice whether a woman will wear the hijab, but in Iran this is about much more than hair, skin and God. It's about obeying or challenge the authorities. Amiry-Moghaddam interpret the religious persecution that indicated that the regime is under pressure. He believes the escalating conflict with the United States and Israel on nuclear weapons is Iran's expressed need to create an external enemy to maintain internal control. - The regime is fighting for its survival. They know well that there are no U.S. or Israel that represents the greatest existential threat, but their own people.
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