Saeed Salman and his wife and two children came to the United States in 1999 after years of persecution by the fundamentalist Muslim government of Iran. In 1993, Salman had been ordered to assist the Iranian regime in building a secret prison, and refused. As a result, he and his wife were jailed and beaten, and their children harassed.
They entered the U.S. on B-2 (visitor) visas in 1999, and quickly applied for asylum on grounds of political persecution. But an immigration judge in Chicago denied their application in July 2000.
They appealed, but the appeal was denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals without an opinion on February 27, 2003. A different attorney agreed to file an appeal with the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but backed out of the case two days before the filing deadline. The family tried to file on their own behalf, but had been given the wrong address for the court, which subsequently dismissed their case with prejudice. Deportation orders were issued for the entire family.
About a year after their arrival in the United States, in the Spring of 2000, the Salmans began to attend Maranatha Christian Church in Leo, Indiana, a suburb of Fort Wayne. After years of study and personal introspection, the Salmans were baptized by Maranatha's pastor, Rev. Timothy Fisher, in Lafayette, Indiana on June 28, 2003.
The family's conversion to Christianity was particularly momentous, because Saeed Salman's family are "Sayeeds," who claim to be descended from the Prophet Mohammed. It had not been an issue at their original immigration hearing, since they had not yet begun their journey to a new faith. In Iran, apostasy is a crime punishable by death.
When Saeed Salman filed a request for a stay of deportation on September 9, 2003, he was immediately arrested and sent to the Tri-County Detention Center in Ulin, Illinois (at the very southern tip of the state) to await deportation back to Iran. Given the grave danger, the rest of the family was forced into hiding.
Desperate for help, the Salman family submitted an online prayer request explaining their situation to family.org which eventually landed on the desk of Becket Fund attorney Roger Severino. In late October, 2003 the Becket Fund agreed to represent the Salmans--quickly seeking help from key members of the U.S. House and Senate in their efforts.
A motion to reconsider (PDF format, 1.8MB - very large file) the case was filed with the U.S. Justice Department's Board of Immigration Appeals, declaring that the family feared "severe reprisals, persecution, and death from the Fundamental Islamic Republic of Iran because of the conversion of their faith to Christianity. They fear they will be charged with Apostasy under the Islamic Sharia law." The Salmans "did not convert their faith on a whim or as a means to seek asylum," the motion declared. "Rather, they maintained a course of study and personal conviction of four years under the guidance of Reverend Fisher and Church Elders, before committing their faith to Jesus Christ, and converting to Christianity."
On November 13, 2003, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in Washington issued an order (PDF format, 1.6MB) in which it granted the motion to reopen the case for the entire family. It noted the submission of several official State Department documents observing that "the Iranian government did not insure the right of citizens to change or recant their religion. The State Department also reports that apostasy, specifically conversion from Islam, may be punishable by death."
The BIA noted that "DHS [Department of Homeland Security] understandably questions the timing of the respondents' conversion," but added that the Salmans "have also submitted affidavits regarding the circumstances leading to their conversion, including an affidavit from the friend who had initially invited them to her Christian church and a statement from their pastor regarding his belief that the respondents have undergone a 'genuine conversion experience.'"
Finally, the Board found 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 motion for reopening was granted, and the record remanded to the Immigration Court for "further proceedings in connection with the respondents' applications for asylum and withholding of removal."
Mr. Salman was released from prison and joyously reunited with his family on November 21, 2003.
The Salmans appeared for a remanded hearing on December 8, 2004, after local counsel Dao Lee Boyle, with Becket Fund cooperation, filed the following brief (PDF format, 556K). The brief argued that the Salmans must be granted statutory asylum since "having converted from Islam to Christianity, they have a well-founded fear of Iran's persecuting them under its laws that impose the death penalty for apostasy."
The Salman family's five-year fight to stay in the United States ended on March 3, 2005, when the United States Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review in Chicago granted the family political asylum.
"In this case, I am persuaded that apostasy in Iran is punishable by death," Judge Craig Zerbe said in the ruling. "As far as the sincerity of their conversion, I note that the respondents are found to be credible."
Media Coverage:
"A very grateful man" (World Magazine, by Priya Abraham, December 6, 2003)
Iranian man wins U.S. reprieve (Chicago Tribune, by Angela Rozas, November 21, 2003)