Фото: spring96.org
The Human Rights Center Viasna reported the persecution of an Iranian citizen who had been living in Belarus since 2015. The man’s name has not been disclosed for security reasons. According to human rights activists, he worked as a doctor and held a temporary residence permit.
The grounds for the prosecution were the forwarding of a post from a Belarusian protest-related social media page, which had been designated “extremist” by the authorities, in a private Instagram message. One morning in April this year, the man was detained and taken to a KGB building, where he was held for nine hours.
“They told me that if I did not do what they wanted, they would do whatever they wanted, because no one knew where I was,” he said.
The detainee was required to record a video expressing support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Supreme Leader. Officials promised that if he recorded such a video, he would not be deported in connection with the “Iranian case”, although he would still have to serve a sentence for an offence committed in Belarus. A court sentenced him to 15 days of administrative detention for distributing “extremist materials”. He served the sentence at the detention facility in Akrestsina.
“It was very dirty and cold there. There were bedbugs biting me every second. They would not even give me an antihistamine medication. They constantly shouted at me and called me a ‘bandit’. Because I was detained on political grounds, I was not even allowed outside for fresh air.
For all 15 days, I had no access to a shower or hygiene products. There were two other Belarusians in my cell who were also detained for political reasons. In other cells there were people detained on drug-related charges — their conditions were better than ours,” he said, describing the detention conditions.
According to the man, he left Iran and moved to Belarus in 2015 because of the difficult political situation in his home country. He could not seek assistance from Iranian diplomats because he faces persecution in Iran, potentially including the death penalty.
“Because of the situation in Iran, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic handed me over to the KGB,” he said.
After completing his detention term, he was deported. Despite assurances from the authorities that he would receive a five-year entry ban without a passport stamp, immigration officials at the airport stamped his passport with the maximum entry ban of 30 years, until 2056. Deportation to Iran was ultimately prevented, and he was expelled to a third country. He is currently safe.