The Turkish government is planning to deport two Iranian Kurds to the Islamic Republic of Iran, where they will face execution for their role in protests against the policies of the theocratic state, which swept the nation in 2017 and 2018.
The Turkish-language news organization Artı Gerçek first reported last week on the slated deportations of Hossein Manbari and Shugar Mohammadi.
“We witnessed their [the couple's] tears and their panic. They explained that they were given the death penalty and that they would lose their lives if they were sent back to Iran.”
Duygu İnegöllü, lawyer for the couple
The lawyer for the couple, Duygu Inegöllü, told Artı Gerçek, “The couple arrived in Turkey three months ago. They are currently being held in the Ula removal center. The deportation decision was taken because they did not have identity cards.”
According to Artı Gerçek, Inegöllü said about the Iranian Kurds in the detention center, “We witnessed their tears and their panic. They explained that they were given the death penalty and that they would lose their lives if they were sent back to Iran, and that many of their friends had already disappeared after being arrested by the government.”
When asked about the Artı Gerçek report, Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist and research fellow for the Philos Project, told The Jerusalem Post, “Their lawyer Duygu Inegöllü said that since the ongoing anti-government demonstrations started in Iran, the Iranian government has been upholding death sentences rapidly.”
Bulut added, “Why did the Turkish government officials decide to deport this couple when they do know that they’ll be killed if they’re deported to Iran? For Turkey is not a democracy where the rule of law reigns. Decisions concerning the arrests, imprisonments or dismissals of even Turkish dissidents are made not according to the law, but due to political reasons. And the close relationship between Turkey and Iran also plays a role in Turkey’s arbitrary treatment of Iranian refugees. As this couple was sentenced to death in Iran, they have a very strong case for asylum.”
The Post sent press queries to the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Bulut noted, “According to international conventions that Turkey is a signatory of, the government of Turkey is obliged to give up on its arbitrary and inhumane treatment of this Iranian couple and accept their asylum application. Imagine escaping the tyranny of the Iranian regime to end up in the tyranny of Erdogan’s regime.... Tragically, this is the reality of Iranian political refugees right now. And until Iran is free, this nightmare will remain their reality.”
Time for West to recognize Erdoğan as ‘murderer’ - Iran expert
Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American expert on the Islamic Republic, told the Post, “It’s time that the West realized that the very [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan who blew the whistle on the Saudi murder of the terrorist [Jamal] Khashoggi, is himself not only a most efficient murderer, but he actively colludes with the terrorist [Ali] Khameinist regime next door, who are his partners in all kinds of crimes. This case is only one of the thousands of cases where one regime assists the other to further violating human rights.”
Erdogan is the strongman president of Turkey. Khamenei is the totalitarian ruler of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Khashoggi had faced criticism from American national security experts like Andrew C. McCarthy for his ties to al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden. McCarthy cited Khashoggi’s statement on the National Review website that said, “‘We were hoping to establish an Islamic state anywhere.’ That is how the late Jamal Khashoggi described the objective he shared with his boyhood friend, Osama bin Laden.”
Khashoggi’s family said in a statement, “Although he sympathized with certain objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood, he also sharply disagreed with many of their positions, especially toward Saudi Arabia.”
Khashoggi was a fierce critic of the government of Saudi Arabia, where the Muslim Brotherhood has been classified as a terrorist organization.