Chalk Another One Up For The U.N. And That Freedom Loving Iran

"We drink and bathe from the toilets" - Iranian Dissident Trapped 73 Days in Moscow Airport

Ms Kamalfar is guilty of being an Iranian who wants to live in a free country. That is a felony in Ali Khamenei’s Iran, and a matter of considerable indifference to the “international community,” which neither helps people like her once they escape, nor the tens of millions of Iranians inside the country, even though their demands for freedom should be embraced and supported by all civilized countries and their peoples.

Sources close to Iranian dissident Zahra Kamalfar state she has been living with her children under unspeakable conditions in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for 73 days (now more). A one-time demonstrator against the extremist theocracy, she escaped from an Iranian prison when on a two-day furlough to visit her children. She ended up being buffeted from country to country, then spent months in a Moscow deportation motel before being ejected and left to float in the transit area of the airport. Now in imminent danger (possibly Monday, if the Russians cooperate) of being taken back to the Islamic Republic for the Mullahs’ version of justice, Ms. Kamalfar speaks out in this dramatic video smuggled out of the airport to Pajamas Media.

Read Iran expert Michael Ledeen’s account of Kamalfar’s background here. More on Kamalfar and her children at the blog of Iranian human rights activist Ardeshir Dolat. Sign a petition for Kamalfar’s freedom with the UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) and Russian immigration authorities here.

UPDATE AND SOME CLARIFICATION: Pajamas Media has been told that Kamalfar will not be returned to Iran until at least Tuesday. She has a brother in Canada, where she is seeking asylum. Her husband is either in an Iranian prison or dead. No one seems to know. We have also been told that Islamic regime intelligence has been actively spreading rumors about her in order to discredit her with the press. This is unconfirmed at this point.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS: Pajamas Media has been informed that two US attorneys (one Iranian- American) are now en route to Moscow to meet with US Embassy officials. They are attempting to obtain asylum for Kamalfar and her children in the US before she is returned to Iran. The same sources tell us the UNHCR has been obstructing these attempts by delaying in turning over necessary documents. The sources speculate that the UN Agency is embarrassed by its previous treatment of Kamalfar who could have left Russia months ago with their help.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The following news appeared Monday morning on the Hambastegi International Federation of Iranian Refugees website. The reports have not yet been confirmed. The latest news is at the top.

UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (15.30-20-11-2006): IFIR has been informed by Ms. Kamalfar from Airport that she may be departure from Moscow to capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan by Aeroflot at 23.10 tonight. If this happened to her, Ms. Kamalfar will apply asylum in Kyrgyzstan.
UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (14.50-20-11-2006): IFIR has been informed by Ms. Kamalfar from Airport that she has received a message (SMS) and told her she would be deported tonight at 10 pm in Russian times.

UPDATE ON THIS NEWS (14.50- 20-11-2006): IFIR has been informed that possibility of forcible return of Ms.Kamalfar now is in higher risk. Some thing unusual is happened to her. She has been forbidden to have any visit in airport hall. The danger of capture her and her two children would be happened in every minute. This is unconfirmed at this point.