Letter-Writing Action: Stop Sweden’s Illegal Deportation of Navid Mirpouzadih, Mission Free Iran’s Coordinator of Asylum-Seeker Activities in Sweden!

PLEASE SEND THIS SAMPLE LETTER (adjust to your own taste) TO STOP THE ILLEGAL DEPORTATION OF IRANIAN ACTIVIST NAVID MIRPOURZADIH – Mission Free Iran’s Coordinator of Asylum-Related Activities in Sweden.

Navid Mirpourzadih is a strong and vocal activist against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its 32 years of crimes against humanity.  His brother, a labor-rights activist, was executed by the regime, and he himself was detained and tortured by the same regime.  Navid fled for his life to Sweden, seeking asylum, which is his right. Yet the right-wing Swedish government has illegally decided to detain him in preparation for his deportation.

There is no question that Navid, who was active against the Islamic Republic in Iran, and has been active against the Islamic Republic outside of Iran, will be detained, tortured again, and executed.  We will not allow Navid to suffer the same fate as his brother. It is up to us to do all in our power to stop this crime. TAKE ACTION FOR NAVID!

SAMPLE LETTER:

To Tobias Billström, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Sweden, regarding Navid Mirpourzadih (case no. 112408447):

I am writing to you to demand an immediate halt to the deportation of Navid Mirpourzadih, an Iranian asylum-seeker who has sought refuge in Sweden from persecution by the Islamic Republic of Iran (case no. 112408447). Navid should be immediately released from detention and granted political asylum as is his right under international law.

1) Navid has a well-documented history of activism against the Islamic Republic. He is an activist with Mission Free Iran, an organization that explicitly supports the downfall of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran. Navid has been visibly active organizing against the regime in Sweden, coordinating several demonstrations against the regime.  He has also been a prominent defender of the rights of asylum-seekers to asylum, protection, and their right not to be sent back to a regime that is executing people daily.

As is well-known by the Swedish government, anti-regime activists are usually charged with propagating against the regime and moharebeh, which carries the death sentence in Iran. 

Navid’s brother, a labor-rights activist, was executed by the regime. Navid himself was detained and tortured by the same regime.  Navid fled for his life to Sweden, seeking asylum, which is his right. Yet the right-wing Swedish government has illegally decided to detain him in preparation for his deportation. I do not accept this.

2) The Islamic Republic considers all Iranian political asylum-seekers to be criminals, deeming their quest for asylum as propagating against the regime. The Islamic Republic has on several occasions declared and applied its intent to prosecute returned political asylum-seekers, on the basis of Article 7 of the Islamic Republic’s Penal Code. Rahim Rostami, a teenaged Kurdish asylum-seeker returned to Iran by Norway and immediately imprisoned is one such example. Navid Mirpourzadih has sought political asylum and therefore, under the Islamic Republic, is subject to prosecution by the regime.

3) It is illegal under international law for any country including Sweden to deport a person who has a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country.  It is therefore undeniably illegal under the same international law for the Swedish government to participate in the crime of deporting Navid Mirpoourzadih to Iran, where he will be detained, tortured, and likely executed if he is returned to the blood-soaked hands of the Islamic Republic.

Nevertheless, the Swedish government has repeatedly violated the rights of asylum-seekers.  On September 3, 2010, in the case of R. c. v. Sweden (application no. 41827/07), the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg found that deporting an Iranian dissident to Iran would be a violation by the Swedish authorities of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Yet despite this finding, the Swedish government continues to illegally attempt to deport Iranian activists like Navid Mirpourzadih, Sanan Ashrafi, Marzieh Kamangar, Mehdi Maleki, Keivan Soufastaei, and others, all of whom are clearly and undeniably at risk not only of detention and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran, but at unquestionable risk of execution.

We demand an urgent, immediate halt to Sweden’s intended illegal refoulement of Navid Mirpourzadih, who is at clear risk of execution if returned to the Islamic Republic. Given the the Migration Office’s blatant, repeated violations of international law regarding refugee rights, risking the lives of Iranian and other asylum-seekers, we demand that Sweden must not only immediately halt the illegal deportation of Navid Mirpourzadih, but must immediately cease all deportations to Iran.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Send to:
Tobias Billström, Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy and
Press Secretary Linda Norberg

key emails:
migrationsverket@migrationsverket.se, registrator@foreign.ministry.se, guterres@unhcr.org, swest@unhcr.org, hq@iom.int, maja.kocijancic@ec.europa.eu

and

jerzy.buzek@europarl.europa.eu, michael.spindelegger@bmeia.gv.at, kab.bz@diplobel.fed.be, info@mvp.gov.ba, iprd@mfa.government.bg, imprensa@itamaraty.gov.br, imprensa@planalto.gov.br, pm@pm.gc.ca, ministar@mvpei.hr, minforeign1@mfa.gov.cy, podatelna@mzv.cz, udenrigsministeren@um.dk, vminfo@vm.ee, umi@formin.fi, bernard.kouchner@diplomatie.gouv.fr, inform@mfa.gov.ge, guido.westerwelle@auswaertiges-amt.de, gpapandreou@parliament.gr, titkarsag.konz@kum.hu, external@utn.stjr.is, dcpf@mea.gov.in, minister@dfa.ie, gabinetto@cert.esteri.it, segreteria.frattini@esteri.it, mfa.cha@mfa.gov.lv, tonio.borg@gov.mt, secdep@mfa.md, post@mfa.no, DNZPC.Sekretariat@msz.gov.pl, pm@pm.gov.pt, msp@mfa.rs, ministry@mid.ru, miguel.moratinos@maec.es, beatriz.lorenzo@maec.es, registrator@foreign.ministry.se, info@eda.admin.ch, info@mfa.gov.tr, haguew@parliament.uk, stewartkb@state.gov