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Iranian Refugees in Turkey Fear Arbitrary Deportations, Possible Surveillance

Ezel Sahinkaya

   WASHINGTON - The overnight arrest of an outspoken Iranian women's
   rights activist by Turkish authorities earlier this month has sparked
   concerns about the precarious lives of Iranian refugees and the alleged
   surveillance of them by Iranian intelligence in Turkey.

   Maryam Shariatmadari was one of the "Girls of Enghelab [revolution]
   Street" who participated in protests against Iran's compulsory hijab in
   2017. She fled Iran and sought refuge in Turkey in 2018, a year after
   she was sentenced to a year in prison for "encouraging corruption by
   discarding her hijab in public."

   Shariatmadari was detained September 7 by the Turkish police in Denizli
   because of an expired residency permit, and she was transferred to
   migration authority officials for deportation.

   Her detention caused a widespread social media campaign by several
   Iranian and Turkish activists who emphasized that Shariatmadari could
   face persecution in Iran if she were deported.

   The next day, she was released on the condition that she would leave
   the country within 30 days.

   Shariatmadari told [1]Radio Fardathat, "if there was no [social media]
   support, I would have been forced to sign the deportation letter, and
   my fate would have been unclear."

   Turkey is home to Iranian political refugees who fled the regime's
   repression, according to National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI),
   a Maryland-based pro-democracy organization of Iranian Americans.

   Legal status

   As of November 2019, about 39,000 Iranian refugees live in Turkey,
   according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

References

   1. https://en.radiofarda.com/a/30827575.html

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