Arrested Iranian refugee free, granted resident status

An Iranian man arrested in a Vancouver church sanctuary Saturday is a free man, after Citizenship and Immigration officials granted him permanent resident status and all charges against him were dropped.

An emotional Amir Kazemian greeted a large crowd of supporters after he was released from a holding cell at the Vancouver airport Monday morning.

"I [want to] say I love you all. I never forget your support in the end of my life, and I want to share this love for all of you forever and ever and ever. Thank you," he said.

Kazemian, 41, has lived in St. Michael's Anglican Church in East Vancouver since his bid for refugee status was rejected in 2004.

His application for refugee status claimed he would be tortured or killed if he were sent back to Iran.

On Saturday, he called police from the church because he was allegedly being threatened by someone who was buying a computer from him.

The police officer who went to the church in response to the callrealized there was an outstanding deportation order on Kazemian and arrested him. He was taken to a Canadian Border Services Agency holding cell at the Vancouver airport.

Government officials saidMonday's ruling means Kazemian is "a free man" who doesn't have to return to the church.

"His lawyer had submitted, on his behalf, an application back in early January, and that was decided, and that was communicated to Canada Border Services Agency this morning," said Lois Reimer, communications director for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

An articling student at his lawyer's office said Kazemian still must pass a series of checks before being granted full residency status in Canada, but he no longer needs to hide in the church while Immigration officials process his application.

The checks usually involve medical and security issues, said the student, who said she was speaking on behalf of Kazemian's lawyer, Naomi Minwalla.

Kazemian, who had been earning spare cash from within the church byrepairing computers, had been trying to sell a laptop computer on the internet.

He recently realized he'd received a bad cheque in payment for the computer. He alleged he then received a threatening phone call from the man who bought the computer, so he called the police.

Kazemian was then detained by the Canada Border Services Agency at a holding cell in the Vancouver airport, and he feared deportation to his native Iran, where he could have been executed, Minwalla said.

Supporters shocked

Back in Tehran, Kazemian's political activism and support for a secular democracy in Iran led to his being jailed and tortured, Minwalla said. But his more recent conversion to Christianity put him at greater risk, she said.

"He filed his refugee claim based on his political opinion as well as his conversion from Islam to Christianity, which is considered apostasy in Iran and is punishable by death," she said.

Kazemian's supporters said they were shocked that police overstepped what many believe is a traditional understanding in Canada that church walls can provide sanctuary for asylum seekers.

It is believed to be only the second time that a person has been arrested while in a church in Canadawhere he or she had sought sanctuary.

The last time it happened was in Quebec in 2004.

But Vancouver police noted there is no law that establishes a church as off-limits to police, and there was also a Canada-wide warrant for Kazemian's arrest.

"We don't have a choice," Const. Tim Fanning told reporters. "There's no leeway or discretion. The wording of the warrant, as a matter of fact, says we are commanded by law to arrest that person."