Kurdish Asylum Family in Turkey Faces Iran Deportation After Second Rejection

A Kurdish asylum-seeking family in Turkey has received a second negative decision from the country's immigration authorities, the Hana Human Rights Organization said, raising the risk that the family will be forcibly returned to Iran.

In a report on its website, the Hana Human Rights Organization said it had received information that the decision came in recent days, after 11 years of uncertainty for the family. The organization said the development has heightened the risk of their forced return to Iran, where, it said, they could face arrest, torture, and severe judicial sentences.

The report identifies Rezgar Sheikh Jegari as a Kurdish political activist and researcher in the field of children's rights. It says he has lived in Turkey as an asylum seeker since 2016 with his wife, Soheila Ahmadi, and their two children, Baran and Aran. According to the organization, the family has remained in a state of uncertainty throughout this period.

The organization said that, because of his political activities, his research and his openly expressed positions in defense of children's rights, Sheikh Jegari would face the risk of judicial persecution and the fabrication of security-related charges if he were returned to Iran.

It added that a forced return could expose him to arrest by security agencies, physical and psychological torture aimed at extracting forced confessions, and severe judicial sentences, including lengthy prison terms and the possibility of a death sentence. These are the organization's own assessments of the risks he would face.

Hana expressed concern over the fate of the family and called for an immediate halt to the deportation process. It also called for measures to prevent the family's forced return to Iran.

The report does not include a comment from Turkey's immigration authorities, and it does not say when any deportation could take place.