US deported 54 Iranian dissidents back to Iran despite pleas lives were in danger – NYT

The US deported 54 Iranian nationals — including Christian converts, ethnic minorities, and political dissidents — back to the Islamic Republic in late September, despite several of those on the plane insisting their lives were at risk upon their return.

According to The New York Times on Tuesday, at least nine of those deported on the previously reported chartered flight “fiercely resisted deportation,” including a protest by some eight returnees during a stopover in Qatar that passengers said required tasers, straightjackets, and other restraints to subdue.

One man, Mehrdad Dalir, staged a hunger strike in ICE detention, where he’d been sent after refusing to board a commercial flight to Tehran, historically the only way the US deported Iranians.

He had turned himself in to border control after crossing into the US from Mexico, and had petitioned for asylum. He was interviewed by phone, and had his case denied.

Dalir, a political activist who has been critical of Islamic law, originally fled to Turkey from Iran in 2014 along with his father, who said he’d been tortured for criticizing Islam and the Iranian government.

The father, along with Mehrdad and his two brothers, were all recognized as protected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The two brothers are resettled in the US, while the father is approved for resettlement but has not yet been resettled, and remains in Turkey, where he has temporary status.

Mehrdad attempted suicide on the day of the flight, he told the Times, cutting his wrists with a razor; he said he was rushed to a clinic and then put in solitary confinement until the flight. A Homeland Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, told the Times that Dalir did not attempt suicide.

The deportee said that upon being brought to the plane, he screamed and begged, “They will kill me in Iran. Please don’t send me back, please have mercy.”

According to McLaughlin, 23 of the 54 Iranians deported on the flight had ties to terrorism, while seven were on the terror watch list, and five had links to human trafficking networks; one more was convicted of having ties to terror groups, while two others allegedly committed fraud by uploading fake or altered photos.

Neither Dalir, nor an ethnic-minority deportee whom the Times interviewed but did not publish the name of (referring to him as “A.A.”), were among those accused of terrorism or fraud. McLaughlin said both men were given due process, including a chance to make their case for protection.

Before taking off, some of the deportees asked to access their items in order to discard things that might incriminate them in Iran, including a Bible, a cross, and proof of links to opposition groups, the report said. The Times did not clarify whether that access was granted.

The deportation flight itself took almost 50 hours, according to the report, with stops in Puerto Rico, Cairo, and Doha. All deportees were shackled and handcuffed until the plane reached Doha. There, they further resisted deportation, and were reportedly beaten by Qatari security agents. They were unshackled, but remained in handcuffs, Dalir and A.A. said.

Upon arriving in Iran, the returnees were reportedly questioned, and told to be on notice for further questioning. Dalir and A.A. have both been told to report for further interrogations.

A.A. fled Iran and is now in hiding. Dalir has not reported for further interrogations and has been moving between locations inside of Iran. Dalir told the Times that three of the other Iranians on the flight have had their passports confiscated.

More than 400 Iranians in the US currently face deportation, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. There are plans for more chartered deportation flights, according to the report.