UN HRC urges Belarus not to expel Iranian facing death in home country

The UN Human Rights Committee has called on the Belarusian government not to expel Mehrdad Jamshidian, an Iranian national residing in Belarus, who is facing torture and the death penalty in his home country, human rights activist Raman Kisliak told BelaPAN.

Mehrdad Jamshidian came to Belarus in 1993, started his own business and married a Belarusian. He has three children, all of them are citizens of Belarus, Kisliak said.

In 2012, Jamshidian was twice detained for extradition to Iran. The Prosecutor General's Office refused to extradite him, since the Iranian side did not provide the necessary documents for this.

At home, the man is suspected of committing a double murder, of his mother and brother.

Jamshidian himself denies his guilt of the crime. This is insisted on by his niece and his other brother who live in Iran. They have repeatedly petitioned the law enforcement agencies asking to stop the criminal prosecution of their relative.

In 2013, the Interior Department of Zavodski district of Minsk ruled to expel the Iranian from Belarus for reasons of national security, since he is suspected of committing a serious crime abroad. In 2013-2014, Jamshidian was detained three times to be subjected to forced expulsion.

On January 16, 2015, Jamshidian was released from a detention center in Minsk on humanitarian grounds: due to his son’s serious illness.

In 2013-2014, the man repeatedly wrote to the Belarusian authorities asking for asylum, as in Iran he is facing with torture and persecution for converting to Christianity.

The migration authorities rejected the requests, and Jamshidian attempted, although unsuccessfully, to appeal against the decisions to the courts of Minsk.

On October 28, 2014, the UN Human Rights Committee registered a complaint filed by the Iranian’s spouse, Alena Jamshidian.

This complaint was considered by the Committee in November 2017. The Committee found that in case of his extradition to Iran, Mehrdad Jamshidian will be subjected to torture and the death penalty following a trial that does not meet the minimum guarantees of a fair trial.

“We must give Belarus its due since it has for the first time applied the interim measures of protection, since it did not enforce the deportation of Jamshidian during the consideration of his case in the Human Rights Committee,” Kisliak added. “Now the authorities must finally abandon the idea of ​​expelling, extraditing or otherwise transferring Jamshidian to Iran, as this would be a gross violation of his right to life and the prohibition of torture.”

The human rights activist stressed that this is the first Belarusian case on the expulsion of citizens considered by the UN Human Rights Committee.