The Manchester-based human rights organisation RAPAR is working with the Medical Justice Network, lawyers and other organisations in a last minute attempt to stop the deportation of a 16 year old Iranian girl and her sick mother.

Mother and daughter, who were living in Salford before they were detained, have been locked up at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, just outside Bedford.

Last month, the mother, Marjan Gorzy, took an overdose of tablets just five hours before they were due to be put on a flight to Iran and she has been in very bad health since then. Her daughter, Arezoo, is desperately worried about her mother and is terrified of being sent back to Iran.

Two years ago, mother and daughter fled from Iran after the father of the family disappeared and his wife and child could not find him or discover what had happened to him. When they claimed asylum in the UK, they also converted to Christianity but, despite this, the Home Office does not accept that their lives would be in great danger if they returned to Iran.

On 10th September, the mother, Marjan, terrified beyond words, did the only thing she felt she could to protect her daughter – five hours before they were due to be put on a flight to Iran, she took so many tablets that she lost consciousness. Arezoo contacted RAPAR caseworkers, some of whom are from Iran themselves, and they reached her lawyer in time to stop the deportation on medical grounds.

Marjan is still ill and both she and her daughter are in considerable mental distress but, despite this, they are still due to be deported on Sunday.

For more information, please contact:
07776264646