Special Report: A Christian Family Seeking Refuge From Iran

A story about Sarah and her family. If you have the means to help get Sarah and her family to a safe place or prevent her family from being deported to Iran, email [email protected].. Image | Enhanced by Donald Standeford.

By Donald Standeford, SJ Founder/Publisher
February 22, 2023 12:00 am UTC
Modified: 2023-02-22 12:00 am

By Adam Butler, SJ Correspondent
February 22, 2023 12:00 am UTC
Modified: 2023-02-22 12:00 am

TURKEY - A story about an Iranian family, who upon converting to Christianity found that they were no longer safe in Iran and had to flee to Turkey now face deportation back to a country in which they will likely face imprisonment, and death.

To maintain the safety of the family, we will be changing the names of the people involved. We will call the person this story is centered around: Sarah.

The story begins around 7 years ago, when Sarah, who is of Iranian Kurdish descent and was a political science student at an Iranian University came upon a CD containing PDF books that her husband had brought home, given to him by someone that he knew.

The person who gave the books to Sarah's husband had warned him only to give the books to someone who is considered trustworthy, saying that owning or even reading the books is illegal, and could lead to getting arrested.

Sarah's Family Converts To Christianity

Sarah began reading the books given to her husband despite the warning that came with them, and the contents of the books began moving her, her husband, and her family away from their faith in Islam, which is the official, mandatory religion in Iran.

As she began sharing the newfound knowledge with her family, they also began moving away from Islam, and toward Christianity. Keep in mind, that "apostasy" away from Shia faith is Punishable By Death.

With her brother's help, she then began recording the contents of the PDF files into video clips so that they could be shared online and on social media anonymously with others. She did not have the intention to share it at the time but hoped the time would come when she would be able to.

After Sarah's brother enlisted in the military, she was unable to continue her video-editing work as she couldn't trust anyone else to help her with the project and her work at the University took up much of her time.

Sarah's Laptop Issue Leads To Blackmail

In August 2017, her laptop wouldn't turn on. This was a big issue at the time because she was working for a University journal and was the editor and designer of a cultural magazine. The designs and articles that needed to be printed were located on her laptop.

As she desperately needed her laptop to work and had no other choice, she consulted her friend, and classmate and asked where she could find a reliable person to repair her laptop.

She was very anxious because she knew that the books and videos she had been creating were located on the laptop's hard drive, but she was unable to tell her friend why she was anxious as she stressed that she needed to find someone trustworthy to fix her laptop.

A few days later, her friend called her to tell her that she had found someone trustworthy that could repair her laptop for her.

That evening, Sarah took her laptop to the person that her friend referred full of anxiety because she knew what the laptop's hard drive contained, and the risk she was taking giving it over to a stranger to fix.

The man asked for her phone number so that he could call her after it was fixed so she could come to pick it up.

After a few days went by, she received a phone call from the man, who said that the laptop was repaired and that it was ready for her to come to pick up. She checked the videos and found that they were all there, nothing was missing, and everything seemed fine.

The List Of Demands

In September 2017 (the next month), Sarah received a message from the same man who told her he needs to see her as soon as possible, and that it was urgent. After her exams, she went to see him at his shop.

Upon her arrival, the man said that he had made a backup of her hard drive before repairing it so that she wouldn't potentially lose any data during the repairs, and while he was backing it up some videos caught his attention.

He told Sarah that while he was verifying that the data on the backup was her own, and not his, he saw the contents of the videos she had been making. He then began questioning her about the content in the videos, and their purpose.

Sarah explained the videos, and their purpose to the man, and he told her not to worry about anything, she can trust him. Feeling unsettled about the situation, she went back home.

A week later he sent her another message and said that if she doesn't want him to share the videos publicly, then she had to fulfill two requests that he had of her.

The first condition that he had, was that she would sleep with him. The second request was that she would agree to work with him and work for the city security because he was a city intelligence officer.

He warned her that if she told anyone about his requests or his work as an intelligence officer or he would release her videos to the organization he works for, and make it “very difficult” for her, her husband, and her father's family.

She then refused his ultimatum and said that she cannot. “Everyone in our town and our families knows that I love my husband and my life, and I cannot betray you,” she told him.

The man continued to threaten her, and told her not to hurry her answer, because “if you don't fulfill my wishes, I will ruin all of you”.

Sarah went home completely dejected, not knowing what to do. She nervously waited until her husband, who was a teacher at the time, came back home from work and told him about the precarious situation that they were in.

The Daring Escape

Upon hearing about what had transpired, her husband exclaimed “I don't know what to do now with someone who works for the Intelligence Office. I am a teacher, what can I do? My job is to provide the only source of income for the family!”

Sarah was very scared that the man would hand over the videos to the Intelligence Office, and that her husband and her father's family would be arrested and sentenced to death for “disbelief” and executed.

Her father had already been arrested previously for “political activity” and jailed in the Intelligence Prison for three years. While in prison he had a heart attack. He had to pledge upon release from prison that he would never again be engaged in any activity against the religion or the Islamic Republic or he would be re-arrested and sent to prison again.

Sarah and her husband then decided that staying in Iran was too dangerous, they had to get out of the country as soon as possible. Every day was full of fear for her and her family, and Sarah was “scared of anything”.

Sarah's husband decided to quit his job as a teacher. A job that he loved very much, and the family, including Sarah, her husband, brother, and sister decided to hire a smuggler and leave all their belongings behind, “quietly” fleeing to Turkey so that they would not be separated.

Enlisting The Help Of Smugglers

With the help of smugglers, Sarah and her family were able to cross the Turkish border in the middle of August 2017 where they spent two days in Ankara. After this, the traffickers took them to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, where they were registered.

A month after their escape from Iran, they were informed by Sarah's husband's son-in-law that “a number” of the videos that were on the laptop drive had been uploaded to YouTube. Sarah did not know how they got there but suspected they were uploaded by the technician in retaliation for leaving the country with her family.

Two days after the videos were released, plainclothes Iranian officers visited Sarah's father and threatened him, and her family. They told her father that if his daughter did not surrender, they would imprison him, his spouse, and the rest of the family, where they would await torture, rape, and death in prison.

Sarah said that two officers had “shattered the place” without a search warrant, which led her father to leave Iran in late November of 2017, going to Turkey to be with his daughter.

A New Life In Turkey

In Turkey, Sarah says that the government there has “deep ties” with the Iranian government and has infiltrated many “opposition” and “intelligence” forces in the very city where she currently lives.

She uses the time she has to share videos about her beliefs, but she worries that they will identify her, and her father's family and hand them all over to the Iranian authorities.

Sarah and her whole family have been “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” but currently living in Turkey, where she says they are “not good in dealing with non-Muslims,” and she and her family are seen as “unbelievers”.

Sarah's Father's Health Fails, No One Helps

Sarah's father had to have heart surgery after his heart attack while in prison, and his heart relied on a battery to function properly. Most of the tissue in his heart was dead, and his health was failing after his arrival in Turkey. Sarah attempted to get help from the humanitarian aid organization Red Crescent, but they were “treated badly” and “accused of lying”.

Sarah said that she could not tell anyone she or her family were Christians in any place that they worked in Turkey, because they would “no longer be allowed to work” if they did. She also said that the appliances are “old and not suitable for life” and that the rent there is very expensive.

She also said that those who were smuggled “have no rights” are “not given the right to work” and do not pay an insurance premium. The jobs that they are able to get do not provide enough income to survive.

Sarah added that “wherever you work, the employer, or “other friends” look at you with a “bad eye”, having sexual expectations, rather than professional.

Difficulties Adjusting In Turkey

Life is not only hard for Sarah and her family financially, however. Her sister was bullied in school for being both a Kurd and a Christian. “You cannot speak with anyone in opposition there,” she stated. “You cannot talk about, or promote Christianity because you will be imprisoned and deported”.

She also said that whenever they have to go to the hospital for anything they are “treated with disrespect,” and it is the same using public transit.

“Our neighbors do not know we are Kurd and Christian,” she said, adding that they “do not like Kurdish people, or Christians and distance themselves from Christians Kurds”.

Sarah said that the living conditions are at a “very low level”, and that her husband and brother are working but their wages are very low and do not meet the costs of their medical, food, rent, water, electricity, and gas. They are “unable to buy meat,” and could not afford to purchase medicine for Sarah's father's heart condition.

Sarah's Father Passes

Sarah's father's heart condition became worse after the stress of leaving his home and becoming a refugee in Turkey, where they did not know the language and was unable to tell people not to treat them badly. Her father was “mistreated” and “insulted”, including from Turkish government offices, by mini-bus drivers, and by shopkeepers.

When her father's heart device ran out of battery, he was referred to the Red Crescent by the United Nations, but Sarah said that the organization didn't help him, and instead screamed at her father, saying that he spoke lies and that his “disability was at 100%” and refused to help him.

Sarah's father was the only one in the family who had medical insurance, but after he was interviewed by immigration, they rejected his insurance and closed it.

She also said that she had a 10 to a 15-second lapse in memory, after which she went to the doctor to get her head scanned. Although she knew a little Turkish, she couldn't speak the language and caught the doctor saying that she was “nothing but a liar” and says she was disrespected in the waiting room by hospital secretaries.

Unfortunately, Sarah's father passed away from a stroke after not being able to receive treatment for his heart condition, along with all of the stress the situation, and the abuse put on him.

His heart was “open for several months” with the apparatus keeping him alive exposed to the air, after which the hole in his chest became infected. Sarah attempted to go to the hospitals, and Turkish immigration, three times. She also went to the city representative but, “no one helped us”.

In the end, it was not able to “deliver enough oxygen to the brain” and sadly, died of a stroke.

Sarah's Family Denied Refugee Status By Turkey: Possible Deportation Back To Iran

The hard times for Sarah and her family in Turkey are not the only worry that they have, however. Their status as refugees has been denied by the Turkish government two times, and they have appealed for the third time.

If the third appeal is denied, Sarah and her family will be deported back to Iran, where they will likely be facing a future of imprisonment and possibly torture, rape, and a death sentence.

Though they are alive, they have met with impossible odds in Turkey. As stated before, their family is Kurdish, and the Turkish government does not take kindly to people of Kurdish descent.

Sarah is a brave woman, and her parents are very proud of her. A few years ago, as a student of political science in Iran, Sarah did what many of us would never have the courage to do. She took a stand. She began learning about certain things that she knew could make her a target, and even made videos to share what she had learned.

This also started her process of conversion to Christianity, where she found the Lord Jesus Christ, but also where through certain individuals locating her videos, she became a target.

Open Doors USA lists Iran as 8 of 50 and one of the most persecuted locations in the world for Christianity.

It is sufficient to say that Sarah and her family felt the need to leave the country. With the hopes of finding a better life, they sought refuge in Turkey. Click on This Page to see the level of persecution for Christians in both Iran and Turkey.

Sarah and her family have been met with a double-edged sword, with prayer being their number one tool for protection. She has gone to the Turkish government to complain about their situation, hoping to make a change, and they simply told her that she should resort to prostitution to feed her family.

Sarah's Family Will Face Persecution And Possibly Torture And Death If Deported To Iran

An international community has been formed trying to assist Sarah and her family to help them seek refuge in another country, preferably the United States.

Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States has the largest population of Kurdish nationals outside the Middle East. If you have the means to assist us in our efforts to help get Sarah and her family to a safe place or prevent her family from being deported back to Iran, please email [email protected].

Keep in mind that prayer is, and always will be our most powerful tool. Prayer is what has brought this team together.Please remember keep Sarah and her family in your prayers.

Thank you for your time.