March 25, 2022
An Iranian refugee has been released after nine years of detention in Australia. The Guardian of Australia reports that Masumeh Torkpour, 61, was given a three-year temporary visa.
She was originally detained after fleeing Iran in 2011. But her history as a refugee goes back more than 30 years. She first left Iran in 1989, and after two years managed to find refuge in Canada. But she was sentenced to four years there for stabbing a woman she found in bed with her husband.
That crime resulted in Canada’s denial of a permanent visa. Torkpour returned to Iran in 2005 to care for her father, but then was arrested for having fled the country illegally.
In Australia, while in custody, Torkpour was granted refugee status in 2018, but denied a request for permanent asylum based on failing a character test. In addition to her sentence in Canada, she was sentenced to two months in prison for spitting and biting staff at the center during her detention in Australia.
Torkpour told The Guardian her greatest wish is to be free again. “Prison kept me from lighting candles for years. I will finally be able to buy a Christmas candle in honor of Mary, who was also single,” she said. “For years I was labeled ‘dangerous’ and ‘rejected.’ But my heart hopes that 11 years later, 2022 will bring my son Daniel from Canada in my arms.
