France refuses Iranian Christian convert asylum
Ata Fathimaharlooei, an Iranian convert to Christianity, has received a deportation order after his asylum application has been refused in France. A return, however, would be very dangerous as he is threatened with death for apostasy in Iran.
Originally from Shiraz, southern Iran, Ata Fathimaharlooei fled his country in 2018 with wife and child after authorities discovered that he was attending a Christian church. In Iran, denying Islam is a crime of apostasy. Since their arrival in France, the couple has suffered four refusals following their asylum applications. Despite regularly participating in the church services of the Christian center of Roussillon, an evangelical church in Perpignan, where Ata's wife Somayeh in turn received baptism, the courts ruled that the sincerity of their conversion cannot be proven.
On December 15, Ata received an "obligation to leave French territory" (OQTF) to his country of origin or a third country, "within 1 month". This comes after the refusals of asylum from the National Court of Asylum (CNDA) and the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Pers ons (Ofpra).
Jacques Bertrand-Cadi, a faithful of the Christian Center and who financially supports the Iranian family, observed that religious illeteracy among the asylum officials is a real problem for Christian converts who apply for asylum in France. "There is a particular difficulty for these people who call themselves Christians and who come to France. The people in charge of their file do not understand them," he deplores. He himself says he attended a meeting between Ata and a person from Ofpra as part of the appeal to the CNDA, where the interlocutor asked Ata to describe his "spiritual journey", and was surprised to see him choose convictions against the official religion. "She did not understand his approach at all".
According to a report be Le Figaro, Ata embraced the Christian faith at the age of 36 after a meeting with an Armenian whose son he was taking care of, at the psychiatric hospital in Chiraz. When the Iranian hierarchy learns it, he is immediately dismissed. His father-in-law, an influential member of the Pasdaran, the body of the guardians of the revolution, threatens to denounce him to the moral police, and requires his daughter Somayeh, 3 months pregnant, to have an abortion, because a child born of a Christian is considered the result of adultery. With his wife Somayeh, Ata decides to leave the country.
Ata's lawyer, Brivet-Galaup, has filed an appeal against the deportation order.
Sources: Le Figaro, franceinfo, Le Figaro, radiofrance, ECLJ
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