Iranian Refugees Demand Political Asylum in Greece, 2010

In
the 2000s a large number of Iran's educated and political activists fled Iran
due to social restrictions, political pressures and economic issues to seek
asylum in European countries in hopes of a better life. This emigration spiked
after the Iranian presidential election of 2009, which threatened political
activists working for democracy. The majority of Iranian refugees, like other
asylum seekers who fled from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, chose Greece because
its borders were accessible. In the past, Iranian refugees had been able to
petition the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Greece and
receive asylum. However, most of the Iranian asylum seekers who arrived in 2009
faced difficulty in Greece. The Greek United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees placed thousands of Iranian refugees on waiting lists. In the
meantime, many of the refugees lived in camps without sufficient shelter or
healthcare.

On
1 September 2010, about 45 Iranian refugees in Greece started a peaceful
protest in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office and
the University of Athens. Protesters occupied the area, camping in tents.  They protested to pressure the Greek
government to accept their applications for asylum. All of the protesters had
lived between four to twelve years in Greece’s refugee camps without any answer
to their requests for refugee status.  The protesters sent multiple letters to
Greece’s various government ministers.  After
more than forty-four days of the occupation, the Greek government had not
responded.

On
14 October 2010, twenty-five protesters announced a hunger strike after meeting
with Greece’s Deputy Minister of Interior. He told them that Greece would not
recognize them as refugees and grant them asylum. On 21 October 2010, one woman
and six men sewed their lips in protest.

The
members of the campaign who were on hunger strike deteriorated, especially the
members who had sewed their mouths. At the end of their second week, six
protesters were hospitalized. The Greek government denied the protesters use of
a public ambulance, and they had to rent one. At this time, the Greek
government still did not take any action, and refused to acknowledge the hunger
strike or comment upon it. Almost no mainstream Greek media covered the hunger
strike.

In
frustration, through the online media, the protesters requested support from all
international human rights activists since the Greek government was suppressing
their efforts. Iranian and Afghani asylum seekers in Greece and Turkey
supported them by spreading the story.  They
started using YouTube to broadcast their message as political asylum
seekers forced to flee Iran after facing harassment from the Iranian Islamic
government.   Particularly the images of
refugees sewing their lips drew global attention.

The
hunger strike began to gain international and Greek media coverage. Some organizations,
such as International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR), Greek Left Party
(ADRSYA) and Committee of Immigration Workers in Greece, appealed to the Greek government
to act on the refugees’ cases. On 18 November 2010, after seventy-eight days of
protest and thirty-five days on hunger strike, the Greek government granted all
the protesters legal residence status in Greece.