Asylum is granted for Iranian family

Client(s) Client MK

Jones Day represented a 48-year old Iranian woman who fled to the United States seeking asylum from political persecution she endured at the hands of the Iranian government. In 2002, her husband, once a doctor in Iran, was kidnapped, tortured, and detained at the hands of the Iranian military based on a misperception of his involvement with the U.S. CIA, because of his political activism, which ran afoul of Iran's strict laws prohibiting subversive conduct. He escaped from prison and eventually fled to Italy, which led the Iranian government to file a warrant for her arrest, not only for assisting in her husband's escape, but as a substitute to serve his prison sentence until he returned. She also fled Iran with her teenage son and eventually made her way to the United States; her husband remained in Italy. A team of Jones Day lawyers, began working on the case in July 2008 after what had already been an extremely long and arduous process; however, finally, on March 25, 2009, the United States granted her and her son asylum. In December 2009, we successfully obtained asylum for her husband via a relative petition. Jones Day's role in the case is part of a larger effort, in conjunction with Human Rights First to provide pro bono representation to immigrants seeking asylum in the United States.