September 23, 2022
The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed the case of an Iranian convert to Christianity, who is appealing his deportation from Germany back to Iran, on the grounds of religious freedom.
Campaigners fear that the court’s decision means that the 44-year-old will face prison or death, on account of his religious conversion.
H.H., as German law identifies the convert, is a cabinet maker who applied for asylum in 2018.
After he, his wife and his family converted to Christianity in Iran, security forces stormed their house, confiscated their books, computer, passports and Bible. The family then fled to Germany via Turkey.
The Greifswald Administrative Court, which heard the asylum appeal after it was rejected by the German authorities, ruled it was “not particularly likely” that he would have converted to Christianity given that his brother in-law was executed after he had converted.
The European Court of Human Rights has now refused to hear the case, which campaigners claim leaves H.H. at significant risk of deportation.