February 25, 2025

Joint Statement: Stop the Imminent Deportation of Activist Nahid Modarresi to Iran

Refugees in Turkey at High Risk of Imprisonment, Torture if Returned to Iran

February 25, 2025 — We, the undersigned organizations, urgently call on the Turkish government to immediately halt the deportation of Nahid Modarresi, an Iranian dissident who faces an imminent and serious risk of persecution and imprisonment if she is returned to Iran.

In light of the Iranian government’s escalating crackdown on dissent—marked by a surge in executions targeting political prisoners and activists—Ms. Modarresi’s deportation would constitute a threat to her life and thus a direct violation of international human rights protections.

Iranians fleeing political persecution and seeking refuge in Turkey face grave risks if forcibly returned to Iran, including arbitrary detention, torture, and prosecution under manufactured national security charges that are punishable by long prison sentences or even the death penalty.

Nahid Modarresi fled Iran in 2018 as a member of the country’s persecuted LGBTQ+ community and has since been an outspoken advocate for human rights and critic of the Iranian government’s discriminatory policies. Homosexuality in Iran is punishable by imprisonment, flogging, and even death, and legalized persecution incites widespread state and societal violence against the LGBTQ+ community. Nahid has expressed grave concern for her safety, stating: “My life is in danger. If I get sent back to Iran, they will arrest me and maybe execute me.”

Ms. Modarresi’s peaceful activism intensified following the wrongful imprisonment of her sister, Elham Modarresi, who was arrested in Iran in 2022 for participating in the nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement. Security forces forcibly took Elham from her home and detained her at Kachooie Prison outside Tehran, where she was tortured and deprived of critical medical treatment for a serious genetic liver condition. Elham was among 15 women who staged a hunger strike in protest against inhumane prison conditions in Iran.

Following her release on bail in 2023, Elham managed to escape to Turkey, where Ms. Modarresi campaigned for her to receive a life-saving liver transplant. Elham was able to undergo surgery and relocate to Canada. However, Nahid was left behind in Turkey and is now at immediate risk of deportation.

Despite being granted temporary protection status as a refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on March 9, 2018, Turkish authorities revoked Ms. Modarresi’s status in April 2023, leaving her without legal protection or the right to remain in the country. On February 1, 2025, a Turkish court ruled that she no longer has the right to appeal this decision, effectively exhausting all legal avenues to prevent her deportation.

Ms. Modarresi’s lawyer is working on a refugee resettlement application to Canada, where her sister Elham currently resides, and has also identified individuals willing to sponsor her.

We urgently call upon the Turkish government to halt any attempt to deport Ms. Modarresi, reverse all deportations of Iranian citizens back to the Islamic Republic where they risk imprisonment and even death, and uphold its obligations under international human rights and refugee protection laws, particularly the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning individuals to a country where they face a well-founded risk of persecution, torture, or death.
We urge the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and governments worldwide to call upon the Turkish authorities to immediately halt these deportations of endangered Iranian citizens.
We urge the Canadian government to consider providing Ms. Modaressi with the protection she urgently needs.

The international community must not stand by as another brave human rights defender is knowingly placed in mortal danger.

Signed,