Iranian converts to Christianity to be released from detentionNov 18, 2003 The U.S. Justice Department's Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has
ordered the asylum case of 48 year old Saeed Salman and his family reopened,
setting the stage for his release from detention later this week after
more than two months behind bars. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
recently joined local attorney Mark Jacob Thomas in representing Salman
and his family in their battle against deportation back to Iran. A deportation
order had been issued, and there was a threat of immediate deportation
prior to the BIA's ruling.
The Salmans came to the United States from their native Iran on B-2 (visitors)
visas in 1999 and quickly applied for asylum on grounds of political persecution.
Salman had refused to work on construction of a secret prison for the
Iranian regime in 1993, and he and his family had been imprisoned and
beaten. An immigration judge in Chicago denied the asylum application
in July 2000, and an appeal was denied earlier this year. He was detained
on September 9, 2003 and has been held since then at the Tri-County Detention
Center in Ulin, Illinois.
The Salmans began attending a Christian church in Leo, Indiana in the
Spring of 2000, and converted to Christianity. They were baptized as a
family on June 28, 2003. Documents filed with the BIA cited official State
Department documents stating that the Iranian government does not recognize
a right of citizens to change their religion and that conversion by Muslims
to Christianity ("apostasy") is punishable by death in Iran.
The motion to reopen the case pointed out that the immigration judge who
originally heard the case did not consider this aspect of the danger they
face if deported to Iran, since they were still Muslims at the time.
The BIA concluded that "the information submitted by the respondents
is new and relevant regarding their conversion and the issue of the Iranian
government's current treatment of Christians in Iran. We further find
that the respondents have demonstrated prima facie eligibility for the
relief they seek in reopened proceedings." The Board granted the
motion to reopen and remanded the case to the Immigration Court "for
further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
The Becket Fund requested assistance in the case from key members of
the U.S. House and Senate. Relevant Cases
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