TV 2 meets Mahla on a dark winter evening at Jernbanetorget in Oslo, among other opponents of the regime in Iran. Every day they light a candle for Masha Amini, who died aged just 22, after being arrested by the morality police for “wrong” wearing the hijab.
DEMONSTRATION: Mahla Norouzi shows up at Jernbanetorget in Oslo to support the popular uprising in Iran. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
– It is very important for me to support young people and the Iranian people’s fight for freedom, says Mahla.
She hangs around her neck a portrait of a woman, Fariba Kamalabadi, persecuted for her faith in Iran.
– She has been imprisoned for ten years just because she is a Bahá’í believer. Last year she received a new prison sentence of ten years, after she had finished the first ten years, says Mahla, handing out “flyers” to passers-by.
GIVES OUT: Mahla Norouzi hands out pamphlets to passers-by. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
The Bahá’í faith is precisely the reason why Mahla came to Norway as a 17-year-old in 2017 and applied for asylum as a single minor asylum seeker, she says.
– It was really painful to leave the family – and it still is – but the difficulties I experienced in Iran meant that I had to leave my home country and my immediate family. It was not something I wanted at all, says Mahla, fighting back tears.
She has had her asylum application rejected, and is here on “borrowed time”. The deadline for leaving Norway expired last year, but she still has hope that the immigration authorities will turn around.
Tea and nineteen days’ prayer
In Norway, other Bahá’í believers have become her new “family”. The Norwegian couple Ailin and Jalil Zooghalian in Asker have adopted her as their own daughter.
– She is alone here, and I might be able to help her. She is a very good person, says Jalil Zooghalian.
DAD IN ASHES: Jalil Zooghalian stands up for Mahla as if she were his own daughter. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
Jalil came to Norway 15 years ago and is a Norwegian citizen and central to the Bahá’í community in Norway, which has around 1,200 members.
– They have supported me and helped me to do services for others, says Mahla.
Standing up and helping others, without expecting anything in return, is central to practicing the faith, she says.
The married couple invite TV 2 home for tea, fruit and cakes and “nineteenth day prayer” together with Mahla and other believers.
The religion has Iranian origins, but is banned in the country. They divide the year into 19 months – one month is 19 days, and every 19th day a “nineteen-day festival” is celebrated.
– The first thing I do when I meet a person is to tell them that I am a Baha’i. Faith means everything to me, says Masha.
NINTENDAGERS PRAYER: Mahla Norouzi reads aloud from the prayer book during the gathering in Asker. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
PRAYER BOOK: Bahá’í prayer books lie on the table with fruit, cakes and tea. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
She opens the prayer book and reads aloud, but underneath the prayer, the music, the tea and the cakes lies the turmoil. Masha’s application for protection in Norway has been rejected, and she is required to leave the country.
– Imminent danger
Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS), which in some cases provides legal aid to asylum seekers, is following up on her case, however, and has asked the Immigration Board (UNE) to reconsider the refusal.
– We have asked for a new assessment of the case, and we have also asked that she not be sent back to Iran until the new information has been assessed once more, says senior adviser Jon Ole Martinsen in NOAS to TV 2.
NEW ASSESSMENT: Jon Ole Martinsen is a senior adviser at the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS). They have asked for a new assessment of the case. Photo: Yngve Bugge Drangsholt / TV2
UNE does not doubt that Mahla has converted to the Bahá’í faith, but believes there is no danger that she will personally be persecuted in Iran. It is shown that she is not a leadership figure, and that she can adapt to the situation in her home country, and be less active there than in Norway.
For its part, NOAS indicates that the Iranian authorities engage in refugee espionage in Norway, and have most likely already registered Mahla as a regime opponent. She risks having serious problems as soon as she lands in Iran, warns Martinsen.
FOLLOWING: UNE is following developments in Iran, and will deal with Mahla Norouzi’s case in the usual way. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
– Our fear is that she will be taken in for questioning, and that it will then be revealed that she has changed her faith, and that she has been an active opponent of the regime in Norway. There is a real imminent danger that she will be exposed to inhumane treatment both during interrogation and imprisonment, he says.
UNE indicates that they have been successful in court, and that there is a legally binding judgment from the Court of Appeal. But UNE will look at the matter again.
– The case is now in our case queue, and we will deal with it in the usual way, says unit manager Terje Østraat at UNE to TV 2.
– We are following developments in Iran very closely. Norouzi’s case will be assessed based on updated country information about Iran, he says.
Thinks more Iranians must get protection
NOAS believes that several Iranians who have lived in Norway for a long time and have been refused asylum must have their cases re-processed in light of the new situation in Iran, where the authorities are brutally cracking down on the popular uprising with violence, imprisonment and the death penalty.
– We believe that the risk for political activists from Iran must now be reassessed. We have now seen again how the Iranian authorities crack down on the opposition, and believe there are more people who have a real need for protection than those who have received protection in Norway, says Martinsen to TV 2.
– Other Iranians in Norway who have been refused can also request deferred implementation and reversal of their decision, comments Østraat.
– Most of the Iran cases UNE currently has are just such cases, he says.
UNE states that they currently have a total of 187 Iran cases for consideration. 96 are requests to overturn previous UNE decisions, while 91 are complaints about decisions made by the Directorate of Immigration (UDI).
Wants to be a doctor
Mahla feels that the opportunities in life are passing her by while she waits for answers. As long as she does not have a residence permit, she is also not allowed to work or study.
EXAMPLE: Mahla Norouzi in front of a picture of Abdul`l-Bahà, a leading figure in the Bahá’í Faith. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
– In Iran, I couldn’t study or get public jobs, and I could end up in prison because the faith is forbidden. In Norway I have more freedom, but it is difficult for me not to be able to study, she says.
– What do you want to study?
– I want to become a doctor, says Mahla, wiping away a few tears over lost years.
CRYING: Mahla can’t hold back the tears when she talks about her dreams of education and a life in safety in Norway. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
What keeps her going in her everyday life is practicing her faith, praying morning and night, and doing social services for others. Among other things, she has worked as a volunteer in the school canteen. And in the evenings, she regularly stands up in the markings at Jernbanetorget.
– It is a dream to have a free Iran, where no one is oppressed and punished for their speech, she says.
