On this March 8, International Women’s Rights Day, it was the future of an Iranian woman who was at stake before the Toulouse administrative court. A few months ago, Farideh, 38, marched through the streets of Tehran to demand more freedoms and denounce the methods of repression of the Islamic Republic.
A country, her own, which she decided to leave to flee the regime and reach the United Kingdom where her fiancé was waiting for her. After a stint in Italy, she was arrested at Chambéry airport in mid-January. Placed in the Cornebarrieu detention center in Haute-Garonne, she was released following a decision by the Toulouse liberty and detention judge, taken three days after her arrest.
Far from being out of the woods, Farideh is still today subject to an obligation to leave the territory. A decision taken by the prefect of Savoy, subject of an appeal before the Toulouse administrative court. During the hearing, the refugee’s lawyer, Me Mathilde Bachelet, explained that the “prefect went so far as to ask the Iranian authorities, the same Iranian authorities that she was fleeing, he revealed his identity to his persecutors “.
“Freedom Fighter”
During her arrest and before the judge of freedoms, Farideh had explained that she preferred “to die than to return to Iran”. For fear, she preferred not to be present at this hearing where the State services were not represented either.
“While the president shows support for opponents, on the other hand, state services criminalize people fleeing the Iranian regime. It’s not just an absurd decision, it’s also criminal because to send her back is to make her take risks, that of being arrested, or even worse, ”insisted the lawyer. Ella pleaded for the Iranian to benefit from constitutional asyluma status granted to “freedom fighters”.
“The French State cannot take deportation measures for Iran in the current context, all the more so for a person who took part in the demonstrations against the regime, whose family is itself persecuted” , continues Me Bachelet for whom it is above all a legal decision before being symbolic.
Because it could set a precedent for similar cases. Like that of another woman who had also been placed last year in a detention center before being released and having her obligation to leave the territory canceled by the judge who was examining Farideh’s case today. The decision must be made within a fortnight.