MAY 5 protest CANCELLED, along with Bita’s deportation.

Bita Ghaedi is a young woman whose life in Iran was bound, tortured, and scarred by the pervasive gender-based violence she experienced. Her political activities with PMOI/MEK/MKO mark her as an opponent of the regime, and also one who will face certain execution upon return to Iran.

She has sought refuge in the UK with her partner. She has viable grounds for establishing refugee status: she has numerous reasons to fear for her life if she is returned, and it is illegal under UN agreements on the Status of Refugees to violate the principle of non-refoulement, or returning an asylum-seeker to a country where they have grounds to fear persecution. England is a signatory to the legally-binding agreements on Status of Refugees, and Bita’s case is very clear cut. Nevertheless, David Miliband’s government declared that she would be deported back to Iran.

Her ticket was booked for April 20, 2010, and it was only through natural disturbance in the form of volcanic ash from Iceland that Bita’s deportation was temporarily halted.

We must continue to advocate for Ms. Ghaedi to ensure that her human rights, and our human rights, are not breached by the reprehensible actions of the self-serving British government.

MFI work for Bita Ghaedi:
April 17, 2010: NO DEPORTATION TO IRAN, REGARDLESS OF PARTY: Stand Against UK’s Deportation of Bita Ghaedi
April 18, 2010: MFI Press Release: Mission Free Iran Denounces UK’s Illegal Effort to Deport Political Activist and Victim of Gender-Based Violence Bita Ghaedi to Iran
April 19, 2010: MFI Analysis: Hands Off Bita Ghaedi!
April 20, 2010: Event report: Hands off Bita! MFI British Embassy Protests
April 26, 2010: URGENT: New deportation date set for Bita Ghaedi: May 5 2010

Other bloggers’ work for Bita Ghaedi:
Empire Domestique: British government sentence Bita Ghaedi to death: URGENT HELP REQUIRED
Shreen Distracted: SAVE BITA GHAEDI [aka the government’s secret human rights fail]
Prerna Lal: 5 Actions you can take to halt the deportation of Bita Ghaedi
Change.org: Stop the deportation of Bita Ghaedi to Iran
The F Word: How Britain is sending a woman to her death and what you can do about it
The Comment Factory: UK government “too busy” to stop Bita Ghaedi being deported to her death next week
OnlyDemocracy4Iran: Save Bita Ghaedi from deportation and honor killing

Mainstream media:
– May 4, 2010: Iran civil rights activist could face ‘honour killing’ if deported from UK, Guardian UK
– May 5, 2010: Iranian civil rights protester is spared deportation, Guardian UK