– If I am sent back, I will simply be killed. So says the man in his late twenties, who wishes to remain anonymous. He has served a sentence of several years in prison for the possession and sale of drugs. As a result of the sentence, he lost his residence permit in Norway, and it was decided that he will be deported to Iran. The man has a number of tattoos on his arms, legs and neck. The tattoos show, among other things, symbols related to homosexuality and Christianity. One of them also shows the text “Death to the Islamic Republic” in Persian. The convicted Kurd is dismayed that the Immigration Board has assumed in its decision that he can cover the tattoos with clothes if he were to be sent back to Iran. – I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know I won’t get away so easily, says the man. – The danger of the death penalty is present Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam is head of Iran Human Rights, a human rights organization based in Norway that fights for the abolition of the death penalty. He believes that it is irresponsible of the Norwegian authorities to return the Kurdish man with tattoos to Iran, considering how the situation in the country is now. – The danger of persecution, of imprisonment, of inhumane treatment and in the worst case the death penalty is present, says Amiry-Moghaddam to news. The country has been marked by protests and unrest after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody last September. Since then, the Iranian regime has cracked down hard on demonstrations against the clergy. incomprehensible: Head of the organization Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, does not understand that the Norwegian authorities will forcibly return a Kurdish man with tattoos to Iran. In the worst case, the man risks the death penalty, he believes. Photo: Kate Barth-Nilsen / news Amiry-Moghaddam therefore believes that the Norwegian authorities should not forcibly return people to Iran at all, right now. – In this situation, sending someone back to Iran, especially with things tattooed on the body against the regime, is, to put it mildly, very indefensible – and incomprehensible to me, he says. Came to Norway as a minor The man’s lawyer, André Møkkelgjerd, believes the tattoos put the man at risk of persecution in Iran. He also denies that the tattoos were taken for “strategic” reasons. – These tattoos were taken over several years, but they were taken at a time when he had no reason to fear returning to Iran, because he had a residence permit. MUST SHARE: Lawyer André Møkkelgjerd believes the state must share responsibility for his client’s getting into trouble, and that he cannot be deported anyway if he risks persecution in Iran. Photo: Siv Sandvik / news He also claims that the man was exposed to state neglect when he came to Norway as a minor, and that the Norwegian authorities must take their share of the responsibility for him ending up on the slope. – Why hasn’t he managed to stay on the right side of the law? – My client came to Norway as a child, and ended up in the care of the child protection agency. That does not mean that he does not have a responsibility himself, but I believe that the state must share the responsibility with him. At the same time, I would like to stress that if he risks persecution, then he cannot be deported regardless of what he may have done. UNE will make a new assessment Head of Unit in the Immigration Board, Terje Østraat, answers as follows why they have not considered it dangerous for the man to be sent to Iran: – We knew about the information about tattoos on the arms and legs, but it is the information about the tattoo on the neck, we don’t see that we have in our documents. NEW ASSESSMENT: Head of unit at the Immigration Board, Terje Østraat, says the board was not aware of the information that the man had tattoos on his neck, and that they will now reassess the case. Photo: UNE Ørstraat says that it was only when news contacted them about the matter that they became aware that the broadcasting man also has tattoos on his neck. – What will you do now that you also know that he has tattoos on his neck? – We expect that we will now receive a new request for reinstatement from the lawyer, and then we will have to look at the case again in the light of that information, which we do in many cases, he adds. Had he been called in for questioning The man’s defender believes that the fact that UNE was not aware that the sending Kurd had a tattoo on his arm shows that he should have been given the opportunity to appear before the tribunal in person. Møkkelgjerd puts this in the context of the fact that Landinfo (the Immigration Service’s specialist unit for land information, journ.anm.) states that everyone who is forcibly returned to Iran is taken in for questioning. – Iranian immigration authorities will then quickly see that my client has expressed political views on his body which will lead to persecution in Iran, says the lawyer. The man from Iran says several of his closest relatives live in Norway, and that his mother fears that he will be deported. – She is afraid of her son. I know that I have done something stupid in the past that has led to this here, but I cannot erase the mistakes I have made, he says. DID SOMETHING STUPID: The Kurdish man says he can’t erase the mistakes he’s made. Photo: Ingvil Øvretveit / news
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Will reconsider deportation of tattooed Kurds – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
