Photo: Majid Eazadi with his fiancée Sarah, in his shop in Nicosia
"I am now 50 years old and I live in Cyprus for 20 years of constant stress and uncertainty in a temporary regime, without being able to enjoy my basic human right to a normal life as a hard working citizen consistent in my obligations to the Cypriot state" Iranian asylum seeker Majid Eazadi, who fled Iran to oppose the mullahs' regime and came to Cyprus as a political refugee in 2001, told "F" yesterday that he had experienced unbelievable persecution and illegal imprisonment for years.
Eazadi, who is a good carpet weaver, has recently run a carpet repair shop in Nicosia and as a self-employed person pays his contributions to the Social Security Fund, but he faces daily problems at work and in life in general, as he has not been renewed for the last two years. the special residence permit granted to him by the state. He told us that for this very reason he can not at present marry his compatriot, also an asylum seeker in Cyprus with whom he has a relationship. It is noted that since 2015 he has secured a residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus which is renewed every year by the Department of Population and Immigration Archive.
Lawyer Michalis Paraskevas, who for many years fought many legal battles in defense and support of Eazadi (which the signatory covered in a press release), told us that he addressed the Department a few days ago, where a competent official informed him that "His application is being considered and the case is up to the interior minister." The lawyer added that he also made a relevant complaint on behalf of Iran to the Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights, whose office has previously dealt with the case and has supported Eazadi with reports and letters to the relevant bodies. "The Cypriot government should" Mr. Paraskevas told us, "Stop bothering this man whom he can not deport in any case, while the Iranian regime does not allow him to enter the country and does not issue him an Iranian passport."
"I would walk on the sea…"
Majid Eazadi hails from the city of Sari in northern Iran - on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea - and belongs to the small community of Zoroastrians, while he and his family were persecuted by the theocratic regime. Eazadi is the only case of an alien whose application for asylum was rejected and who for almost five years (from 2007-2012) remained imprisoned in police custody and mainly in the then infamous Block 10 of the Central Prison, for the purpose of deportation, while this was not possible, "In breach of any principle of law", according to Michalis Paraskevas, the then Commissioner of Administration, Eliza Savvidou and Judge Myron Nikolatos who released him.
Among other things, Mr. Nikolatos stated in his decision of 22 November 2012 that "his continued detention for the purpose of deportation for more than 4 years is disproportionately large and therefore illegal, since his deportation is not possible. "Therefore, his detention for deportation purposes is not justified and he should be fired immediately." In his decision, the judge recorded his arrests and imprisonments stating, among other things, that "Majid Eazadi was detained on 28/11/2007 for deportation purposes, but his deportation was not possible because he did not have a passport and the Iranian embassy refused to issue him a travel passport, claiming that he did not want to return to his country.
The applicant continued to be detained for deportation purposes until 21/3/2011, when, following instructions from the Director General of the Ministry of Interior, his detention and deportation orders were annulled and he was released. On 12/9/2011 the applicant was arrested again and on 13/9/2011 new detention and deportation orders were issued… ".
We note that Majid Eazadi was arrested in March 2014 at Paphos airport with a fake Danish passport, in a desperate attempt to leave Cyprus and was sentenced by the Paphos Court to 6 months imprisonment in the Central Prisons for impersonation and illegal misconduct. He was released in August 2014 without being transferred to the detention center of prohibited immigrants in Menogeia for deportation. His dismissal was made possible by a decision of the then Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Interior, Konstantinos Nikolaidis, on the basis of individualized handling, due to the special circumstances of his case and after the catalytic intervention of the then Commissioner of Administration, Eliza Savvidou.
The Commissioner had sent a letter inviting Mr. Nikolaidis "to immediately consider granting a humanitarian residence permit to Eazadi, without setting conditions for the complainant to cooperate with the Iranian embassy in issuing travel documents, taking due account of the continued suicidal tendencies of the complainant. "
A few months earlier, in March 2014, Eazadi, while on trial, was taken to the Athalassa Psychiatric Hospital, where he was held for a few days, after being deemed dangerous to himself, after repeated suicide attempts in prison cells, refusing to return to Iran. The undersigned had visited him at the hospital at the time and had told me that "If I could go to Iran I would go and I would not spend five years in the prisons of Cyprus, without being a criminal. I love my country, but I hate its regime, which in 2005 hanged my father because he was in favor of democracy. If this government changes, I will be able to walk on the sea to go back. I love my homeland so much ".
philenews.com