Prominent Iranian activists granted asylum

LCHR has learned that high-profile Arab-Iranian human rights activists Imad and Mohsen Bawi were released last week from a Basra, Iraq detention center and have been granted refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and transferred to camps on the Jordan-Iraq border.

The Bawi brothers were in 2006 convicted after an unfair trial of hiding explosives, establishing an illegal group and propaganda against the Iranian government. Both men were serving lengthy prison sentences in Iran, but earlier this year were given leave to spend time with their family following the execution of their brother, Zamel. In February, Imad and Mohsen fled to Iraq and were subsequently arrested in Basra.