Prayer for new beginnings
Imagine being threatened with death for being a Christian in this day and age. What would you do? A young Iranian family facing that terrifying reality risked everything for the hope of a fresh start and a new life in Australia. This is their story.
Why would a young family suddenly leave their home and parents and friends, their work and country, and
risk their lives on a dangerous sea voyage from Indonesia to Australia? Yet that is exactly what Amin and his wife Khatereh and their five-year-old daughter Ailin became desperate enough to do in 2013.
They fled Iran in fear of the government. To stay would have meant torture and imprisonment for Amin, or even cost him his life.
It was a TERRIFYING JOURNEY for people who had never even seen the sea or been on a BOAT.
Amin, Khatereh and Ailin* currently live in Brisbane, having moved there recently on an Australian Immigration Department community detention order.
They have connected with the St John’s Lutheran congregation at Corinda in the inner-western suburbs, where they have been warmly welcomed and are enjoying the friendship and support of the congregation. They attend worship every Sunday and Khatereh was baptised on 5 February. Last month they prepared a special Iranian morning tea for the church members as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to them for their help and support.
Amin worked for 14 years for a government-run cement company in Mosjed Soleiman in Khuzestan, in southwestern Iran. In his role as a representative to management for the workers, he criticised the government for their poor treatment of workers in the factory.
He was arrested for doing so and tortured and interrogated for two weeks, before being taken to court and charged with apostasy (converting from Islam to another religion) and insulting the ‘Supreme Ruler’ of Iran. The penalty for apostasy in Iran is either death or lengthy imprisonment. Amin had become Christian through the influence of some friends, and the authorities had become aware of this.
A lawyer friend at the court helped Amin and the charge of apostasy was dropped, but he was convicted of the second charge and sentenced to 40 lashes and two years in jail. The lawyer appealed the sentence and Amin was let out on bail and was able to go back to work at the factory. However, under pressure to do so from the other workers, he again spoke out against conditions at the factory.
Intelligence officers then raided his house and seized Christian literature. When Amin again contacted his lawyer he found out that the judge was asking for him to be re-arrested and charged with apostasy as well as breaking his bail conditions. The lawyer told Amin he had no choice but to go into hiding.
So Amin, Khatereh and Ailin fled Iran. They flew to Indonesia hoping to get to Britain but, finding that door closed, their only other option was to go by ‘people smuggler’ boat to Australia. It was a terrifying journey for people who had never even seen the sea or been on a boat before they left Iran. They arrived at Christmas Island on 25 July 2013. Since then they have been in detention, spending six months on Christmas Island, 10 months on Nauru and 12 months in Darwin.
As a result of these conditions, both Ailin and Khatereh have been very traumatised. Khatereh still has trouble sleeping at night because of the experiences she has had and her fears about the future.
Amin, Khatereh and Ailin live in hope of being able to build a new life for themselves here in Australia. They are grateful to the Australian government for the help they are currently being given for their medical conditions and they are enjoying the relative freedom that community detention in Brisbane is allowing them.
Amin, Khatereh and Ailin live in HOPE of being able to build a NEW LIFE for themselves here in Australia.
Amin and Khatereh give thanks to God for the freedom they have to practise their Christianity here in Australia, something they could never have done as Christians in Iran. Ailin is also enjoying going to Sunday school, which she would never have had the chance to experience back in Iran.
Amin says there are many obstacles to being a Christian in Iran.
‘If you try to google something Christian on the internet in Iran, you immediately get a black screen, because the government, they censor everything’, he says. ‘It can take you two years to even find a Bible and if the authorities find out you have one, then you are in big trouble.
‘Being a Christian in Iran you have to be very careful. You can’t go to church like you do in Australia. I know of two churches in my city, but they were all broken, the doors and windows smashed. I heard that if you tried to go in, the authorities would photograph you as evidence against you. Those who are Christian in Iran must be so in secret.’
Khatereh now dresses as a westerner. I asked her whether she could go shopping in Iran dressed like she does now. ‘No, No’, she replies. ‘In Iran a woman has to cover her hair and head, her arms and legs. It is the law and I would have got into a lot of trouble if I didn’t do it. Here in Australia it is good. You can wear whatever you like.’
Although Amin, Khatereh and Ailin are appreciating the safety of life in Australia, the most difficult thing for them is not knowing what the future holds. They are afraid they may be sent back to detention either in Darwin or Nauru, or even worse, sent back to Iran, with the horrors that would await them there. This is an extremely stressful situation for them but, for the moment at least, they are safe and being cared for.
The family are praying they will be allowed to make a new start in their lives here in Australia, where they can follow Jesus without fear. People can even speak up against injustice without fear of torture and imprisonment. One can even criticise, if one feels it is necessary, the ‘Supreme Ruler’ of Australia, without fear of 40 lashes and two years in jail!
Please pray that Amin, Khatereh and Ailin will be able to continue their new beginnings and their lives in safety, and with security and the freedom to worship their Lord and Saviour.
Lester Reinbott is the pastor at St John’s Lutheran Church, Corinda.
*The Lutheran is withholding the family’s surname in the interests of their safety.
Welcome those seeking new life
From the beginnings of the biblical narrative in the stories of Abraham, Jacob and his family, we hear about refugees and asylum seekers; of people hoping for a new life.
God is a God of deliverance and is concerned for the welfare of the refugee and asylum seeker.
Deuteronomy 10:18,19 tells and commands us that God ‘loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt’.
This Old Testament injunction to welcome and care for the ‘foreigner’ comes against the background of Israel’s history in which Jacob’s family had been asylum seekers fleeing to Egypt from the devastating famine in Canaan.
The New Testament story of our Lord and Saviour itself begins with a refugee situation. Mary and Joseph take young Jesus and flee King Herod.
Thankfully the Egyptian borders weren’t closed to them. Would they have been allowed into Australia?
Jesus taught powerfully in his parable of the Good Samaritan about God’s will that we care for our neighbour in need, especially those who have suffered violence. The very twist in the tale is that it was the Samaritan, the unwelcome and despised foreigner, who cared for the needy person.
The person who ‘fell among thieves’ was ignored by those who considered themselves religious, but showed they knew nothing of God’s grace.
Again in his parable about judgement day in Matthew 25, Jesus divides the sheep from the goats on the basis of the mercy they have or have not shown. ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ or ‘I was a stranger and you did not welcome me’. If Jesus preached here today, would he perhaps say ‘I was in need of asylum and you opened your heart to me’ or ‘You closed your border to me and put me in detention’?
Nothing establishes the dignity and worth of every human being, including asylum seekers and refugees wanting a new life, more than the fact that God loved every single person in this world so much ‘that he gave his one and only Son’ (John 3:16). Those who flee to our country for refuge from persecution and injustice surely deserve respect and compassion.
In a way, we are all asylum seekers, looking for a new beginning. We seek asylum from the ravages of sin and death and the forces of evil. We flee for refuge to the only secure place – in the kingdom of God.
We come at the invitation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We come undeserving of asylum but God doesn’t shut his borders, rather he opens them wide. ‘Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you asylum.’
This feature story comes from The Lutheran April 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe
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