Public Counsel - Pro Bono Online

Daily Journal- Aug. 11, 2003

Iranian Human Rights Activist's Detention Remains Mysterious

By Susan McRae

Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Alireza Ghazi Zahedi had big hopes when he arrived in the United States a year and a half ago from Iran as a delegate to an international peace conference at the United Nations.

Now, the 26-year-old human rights activist sits in an immigration jail, where he has been held without bond since Dec. 23.

"I love the United States," Zahedi said, perched on a metal stool in the barrackslike interview room at the Mira Loma detention center in Lancaster, a desert outpost 70 miles north of Los Angeles.

"Why should I be here in an orange suit in INS custody for 70 days?" Zahedi asked, plucking disdainfully at his prison garb. "My whole family, especially my dear wife, is going through a traumatic experience."
Spreading open a manila folder containing his immigration documentation, Zahedi said he has no idea why he is being detained. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has no criminal record. An application to adjust his status is pending, he said.

At the very least, Zahedi said, he should have been granted bond.
Lawyers contacted about the facts of the case were as puzzled as Zahedi as to what immigration officials are up to.

"It definitely doesn't make sense," said Niels Frenzen, an immigration law professor at the University of Southern California.

Several years ago, Frenzen represented a dozen Kurdish dissidents from Iraq in defeating a high-profile, secret-evidence case when he headed the immigration unit of Los Angeles' Public Counsel.
A cryptic order from Judge Michael A. Kilroy at the Mira Loma immigration court only deepened the mystery.

"As a result of both hearings [Jan. 9 and Jan. 17], the court determined that the respondent was eligible for bond, but because of circumstances provided to the court, ordered the respondent's detention to continue unchanged," Kilroy, a former military trial judge, wrote.

Immigration officials would not discuss Zahedi or his "circumstances," saying that the agency's policy is not to comment on specific cases.

During his months in detention, Zahedi has gone through two lawyers. One wanted $10,000 upfront, which Zahedi said he couldn't afford. Zahedi also said he doesn't see why he had to pay because he didn't do anything wrong.

The second lawyer, an Iranian national, spoke little English, Zahedi said, and was next to useless in court.
Zahedi, who graduated from law school in Iran and speaks nearly flawless English, figured he could do as well representing himself.

"I want the judge to clarify why he is holding me, what he means by 'circumstances,'" Zahedi said.
Last Monday, Kilroy continued the proceedings, this time to allow more time for Zahedi's U.S. citizen wife to complete the I-130 form, a petition to immigrate alien relatives. The petition hadn't been filled out properly, according to the court transcript, a court representative said.

Kilroy scheduled the next hearing for March 24.

Zahedi's odyssey began Sept. 6, 2001, when he, his parents and younger brother came to New York to attend the 54th annual international peace conference hosted by the nongovernmental organizations section of the U.N. Department of Public Information.

It was the latest of several such events Zahedi had attended around the world with his father, Mansour Ghazi Zahedi, president of the Peace Center of Iran and a university professor in the country's capital city of Teheran.

After the conference, the family moved to Portsmouth, Va., where they have relatives, and Mansour Ghazi Zahedi set up a branch of the Peace Center, Zahedi said.

While helping his father with his work, Zahedi struck up a long-distance relationship with a California woman he met through an Internet chat room.

Zahedi found that he had a lot in common with Azima Sharrieff, a 29-year-old single mom who had been raised in the Islamic faith when her father converted to Muslim. The two decided to marry, and Zahedi moved to her San Bernardino home.

When the government announced its special registration program last year for certain aliens of Middle Eastern countries, Zahedi was among the first to comply, he said. Accompanied by his wife, he brought copies of the various forms that he had mailed to immigration officials to adjust his status and apply for a work permit, he recalled.

Pulling a copy of his registration card out of the manila folder, Zahedi pointed out that the immigration officer had written on the back, "complied with 2002 call-in registration program."

Rummaging through his folder, Zahedi pulled out a letter from immigration officials, dated November, that asked him to come in the following month for an interview to complete his employment authorization application.

When he arrived at the San Bernardino immigration office, however, immigration officers, instead of giving him a work permit, arrested him.

A notice-to-appear form, issued Dec. 20 by immigration officials, indicates the reason for his detention is that his visa had expired and he is "out of status."

While that is technically true, Zahedi had an application pending to adjust his status, according to immigration records.

Under those circumstances, immigration officials usually release people on bond or, more often, on their own recognizance until their status is decided by the court, according to both immigration officials and private immigration lawyers.

In most cases, authorities only hold someone without bond if he or she has committed a crime, immigration officials said.

Searching for reasons, Zahedi said that immigration officials grilled him and his wife about their marriage, which took place two days before his visa expired.

Zahedi's wife said that officials accused her of taking money for the marriage, an accusation she vehemently denied.

"If I had been paid, would I still be working two jobs?" asked Sharrieff, who has completed training to become an X-ray technician.

Zahedi's father has solicited letters of support from friends who met both father and son at another international peace conference they attended in Taiwan.

Charles Mercieca, a retired professor from Alabama A&M University and president of the Alabama-based International Association of Educators for World Peace, is one of them.

"I was impressed to see such a young man so highly dedicated to peace," Mercieca said. "There must have been some kind of error in his arrest."

Douglas Mattern, president of the San Francisco-based Association of World Citizens, called Zahedi's detention a "definite case of prejudice."

Mattern, who also met Zahedi and his father in Taiwan, described the son as a "dedicated individual working for peace, human rights and a better world."

"The family is desperate and devastated about what has happened," Mattern said. "It's the kind of thing that happens in Iran, but you never expect it to happen here."

Mattern has told immigration officials that he will come to court to personally vouch for Zahedi if it will help, he said.

Public Counsel's Judy London, who heads up the Los Angeles nonprofit's immigration unit, also acknowledged suspicions of prejudice.

"The extent of discrimination against Muslims became glaring to me after I was in the INS office recently and a [private] immigration lawyer said in a loud voice that he would never represent a Muslim because you never know if they are a terrorist," London said.

She said it is ironic that many Middle Easterners who fled extremist regimes have been subjected to racial bias in the United States because they are suspected of allegiance to the very things that they risked their lives to escape, extremism and totalitarianism.

Immigration officials denied that prejudice is a factor in this or any case.

"The agency does not engage in racial profiling," immigration spokesman Francisco Arcaute said.
As far as the special registration program goes, Arcaute added, Middle Eastern countries were targeted because that is where terrorism by al-Qaida and other such groups has been observed.

Frenzen said that if the government has classified evidence against Zahedi, officials do not have to disclose it. However, they must tell the parties that classified evidence is being considered.

That has not happened in Zahedi's case, nor does secret evidence appear to be a factor.
So Zahedi's case lingers, steeped in mystery.

"Everybody is surprised that I am here," Zahedi said.

"Criminals are released on bond," Zahedi said, "and an innocent person like me is in INS custody."