Judge to rule on political asylum for Iranian converts to Christianity

Mar 1, 2005

Becket Fund expert attorneys available for comment

On Wednesday, March 2, 2005, at 1:00 pm, the United States Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review in Chicago will render a decision from the bench in the case of an Iranian family seeking political asylum in the United States.

Attorneys at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty--a nonpartisan, interfaith, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions--will be available for comment on the decision. The Becket Fund is part of the team of lawyers representing Saeed Salman and his family in their five-year battle against deportation to Iran.

The Salmans came to the United States from their native Iran on visitors' visas in 1999, immediately applying for asylum on grounds of political persecution. Saeed 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. A Chicago immigration judge denied the application in July 2000, and an appeal was denied in 2003. Saeed Salman was detained behind bars more than 2 months that year.

Saeed, his wife Shohreh, and their children Tahmoures and Farbod began attending a Christian church in Leo, Indiana, in Spring 2000 and converted to Christianity. They were baptized as a family on June 28, 2003. Documents filed with the Immigration Board cited official State Department documents stating that the Iranian government does not recognize the right of citizens to change their religion, and that conversion by Muslims to Christianity is punishable by death in Iran. The case was reopened after attorneys noted that the 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 ongoing religious persecution in Iran is real," notes Jared N. Leland, Media and Legal Counsel for The Becket Fund. "Saeed and Shohreh Salman have spent five years fighting for the right that so many Americans take for granted--the ability to practice their religion without fear of death."

Relevant Cases

• Iran -- Criminalizing Religious Conversion -- Saeed Salman