Amid continuing instability in Iran, protesters face bloody reprisals, lengthy prison sentences, torture and execution. This will likely force more Iranians to flee. If they reach Britain, most will be granted asylum, but only after spending months or even years in a devastating limbo.
“I feel like a fish in a glass of water,” says Ali Tamarkhani, an astrophysicist seeking asylum in the UK. “Yes, it's safe. Yes, it's alive. But it is not living.”
Having escaped religious persecution in Iran, Tamarkhani says the “hardest part” of waiting 19 months for a decision about his asylum claim is there is “absolutely nothing” to do except “waste time”.
Government rules mean Tamarkhani cannot work. He has been allocated a tiny room, and survives on just £8.24 a week, not even enough “to go out or buy a book”.
Whenever he contacts the Home Office for information about the progress of his asylum request, Tamarkhani is told “sorry, we cannot tell you”, if he receives a reply at all. He tries to keep cheerful, though points out “you will find lots of asylum seekers with mental problems”.
‘It’s laughable’
The dismal situation faced by Hamidi, Tamarkhani and countless others is not lost on the Iranian authorities.
British-Iranian immigration and asylum lawyer Kaweh Beheshtizadeh told openDemocracy the “sad reality” of the UK’s asylum system is it actually strengthens the Iranian regime.
Indeed, the Islamic Republic is emboldened to act more violently, secure in the knowledge its opponents have few escape options.
“The authorities use what happens to asylum seekers in the UK to make people inside the country shut up and not protest because the alternative is reaching Europe, wasting years of your life and ending up severely depressed,” he says.
“Every dictator looks at their people and asks if they have a choice to go to a country like the UK and claim asylum, or if they are forced to stay.”
The regime’s cynical logic is only reinforced by British ministers’ oft-repeated pledges to crack down on what they call “illegal migration”, plus the controversial plan to send asylum seekers for offshore processing in Rwanda.
This week, the government announced plans to deport every asylum seeker who crosses the Channel to a third country and ban them from ever returning to Britain. Beheshtizadeh blasted the contentious plans, saying they “will never work”.
“The UK government must first withdraw from both [the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights] before they can even try it. It’s unworkable, immoral, inhumane, expensive and frankly absurd,” he said.
But Iranian officials have claimed such policies show how unsafe it is to seek asylum in Britain. Last June, Saeed Khatibzade, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said: “What is happening is a historical shame for England and all those who have devoted their efforts to cover up and purify their colonial history.”
He added: “Deporting people to third countries is a dangerous procedure that will destroy the international refugee protection regime.”
Immigration lawyer Beheshtizadeh believes the situation in Britain has become “laughable”, saying it is “so embarrassing that even the Iranian authorities were condemning the policy as inhuman”.
The UK government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda has been delayed after the High Court granted a group of asylum seekers permission to appeal. But if it goes ahead, there are fears that political refugees could be targeted in the central African country by Iran’s powerful security forces.
“What protection is there in Rwanda?” asks Shiva Mahbobi, spokeswoman for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI). “How can the Rwandan or British government keep people safe? In reality, they can’t. It's impossible.”
Just last month, Persian language TV channel Iran International was forced to relocate from London to Washington DC, citing “threats” posed by Iranian agents, while protesters have reportedly been attacked in the heart of the capital.
Kafkaesque situation
Despite ministers’ pledges to reduce “illegal migration”, more people than ever made the perilous journey across the Channel last year.
This is how everyone openDemocracy spoke to for this article arrived in the UK, feeling they had no option but to risk their lives this way.
Most Iranians who claim asylum in the UK are found to have legitimate grounds for protection. Of an estimated 4,978 Iranians who arrived in Britain via small boat last year, 82% were granted asylum with an initial decision, according to the Refugee Council.
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