Turkish authorities have decided on the deportation of an Iranian Kurdish couple despite the fact that they face execution in Iran for having taken part in protests against the government several years ago, the Artı Gerçek news website reported, citing the couple’s lawyer.
Hossein Manbari and his partner, Shugar Mohammadi, arrived in Turkey three months ago and filed an application for asylum. Their application is still pending.
They have been kept at a repatriation center since Dec. 15 in the western province of Muğla.
The couple’s lawyer, Duygu İnegöllü, told Artı Gerçek that Manbari and Mohammadi face execution in Iran for taking part in anti-government protests, which were sparked in 2017 due to the high cost of living.
The protests, which began in several cities in late 2017 and continued into early 2018, initially focused on the government’s economic policies, but as they spread throughout the country their scope expanded to include political opposition to Iran’s theocratic regime.
İnegöllü said the couple decided to leave Iran because the judicial authorities began to carry out executions following the eruption of mass protests over the death of a young woman while in police custody.
Iran has witnessed unrelenting civil unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police, which enforce strict rules in the Islamic Republic requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothes in public, for allegedly wearing the hijab improperly. Amini suffered a heart attack, lapsed into a coma and died on Sept. 16 while in custody, according to the Iranian government.
The lawyer said the Turkish authorities ruled for the deportation of the Iranian couple because they do not have IDs.