We Drink and Bathe from the Toilets" -- Iranian Dissident
Trapped 73 Days (and counting) in Moscow Airport - Exclusive Pajamas Media Video
(Video smuggled out of the Moscow airport and exclusive to Pajamas Media. Translation by Iranian-American filmmaker Ardeshir Arian. Michael Ledeen’s backgrounder on this case can be read HERE.)
UPDATE - TUES - 8:16 PST:
FURTHER UPDATE - 16:26 PST: Midnight in Moscow, as the song goes. The latest reports to reach PJM are that Zahra Kamalfar is under the watchful eye of three Iranian men with ear pieces. (She knows they are Iranian because they whisper to each other in Farsi.) It is probable they could not be there without the acquiescence of the Russians. Meanwhile, PJM has learned that Kamalfar’s brother - Nader Kamalfar - has official political asylum in Canada. Her other brother was killed in Iran, presumably by the regime. At the moment, Zahra has no papers to prove her family identity. Those are in the hands of the Canadian law firm representing her brother, but are not available until Wednesday. (She may be in Tehran by then.) All of this is, of course, unconfirmed.
UPDATE OUT OF A LE CARRE NOVEL - 13:20 PST: According to PJM sources, Russian intelligence working with Iranian agents may have bugged Kamalfar’s cell phone. The following dialog was reported by Kamalfar, who received a suspicious phone call from someone unknown speaking in Persian, asking if she had received her documents (they are being withheld to keep her trapped):
Zahra: Who are you, how did you get this number?
Man: Ms. Afshar gave us your number [not true]
Zahra: I don’t know you
Man: Don’t be afraid of me
Zahra hangs the phone up.
The Ms. Afshar referred to is Ms. Hengameh Afshar, a Los Angeles-based broadcaster who is helping the Kamalfar family. For those interested in the provenance of the video, it was smuggled out by an Afghani student passing through the Moscow Airport. As of this moment, all indications are that Kamalfar and her children will be sent directly to Tehran on either of two flights: Iran Air@ 12:55 (PST) Tuesday or Aeroflot @ 10:45 (PST) Tuesday.
UPDATE: At 9:00 this morning, PJM’s Roger Simon spoke with Iranian-American filmmaker Ardeshir Arian. Arian had been PJM’s conduit to Zahra Kamalfar, the Iranian dissident in danger of being deported from the Moscow airport back to Tehran. Kamalfar’s own voice talking from the airport is heard briefly on this exclusive podcast. This is a portion of an interview with the dissident conducted by Hengameh Ashfar for a Los Angeles Iranian station.
Play (7:33) or download (7.2 MB) Update on the Zahra Kamalfar Deportation.
Free subscription available at iTunes.
FLASH: Pajamas Media has been informed that the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) has now officially rejected Kamalfar’s appeal. Now the only body able to stop the deportation is Russia, or, possibly, Putin himself.
At present Kamalfar and her children will be put on an airplane at 9:45 Tuesday, Moscow time. The plane is scheduled to land at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, before continuing on to Tehran.(Monday, 10:15 PST)
FLASH: Kamalfar tracked by possible IRI (Islamic Regime intelligence) agent while being interviewed for Pajamas Media podcast…. Also, EU Human Rights Commission representative working to stop scheduled deportation of Kamalfar and children…. more to come….
ORIGINAL ITEM (Sunday, 05:47 PST) 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.
