The 35-year-old Reyhane Majidi was among dozens of Iranians who staged daily demonstrations there last month in support of antigovernment protests that rocked the Islamic Republic. They condemned the deadly suppression of the protests sparked by spiraling inflation and a free fall of the Iranian currency. Some of them openly called for the overthrow of the Iranian regime and restoration of monarchy in their country.
On January 14, the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Khalil Shirgholami, criticized the Armenian authorities in unusually strong terms for allowing the gatherings. Shirgholami said there is a growing sense within the Iranian leadership that “Armenia is becoming a serious center for the actions of forces hostile to Iran.” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian swiftly promised to address Tehran’s concerns.
Yerevan’s municipal administration banned the Iranian expats from marching from the embassy building to the city center on January 17. Several of them said afterwards that they were summoned to Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) and told not to participate in such demonstrations. Some, including Majidi, claimed to have been threatened with arrest and deportation from Armenia.
“They insisted that I have no right to protest against the Islamic Republic in real life or online,” Majidi told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week. “They threatened to deport me to Iran.”
The heavily tattooed woman, who moved to Armenia last year, said that she was given one week to “pack up my belongings” and leave the country after defying the oral warning. According to an Iranian friend of her, the NSS told her on Tuesday that she will be deported if she persists in staying put. Majidia declined to again talk to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, saying that she has fallen sick.
Meanwhile, the NSS did not say whether it is indeed trying to drive her out of the country and, if so, on what legal grounds. The security service confirmed last month summoning Iranians for questioning.
Ani Chatinian, an Armenian human rights lawyer representing Majidi, decried the alleged NSS pressure on the woman as illegal.
“If there are problems or dangers threatening the security of Armenia, then written notifications and decisions must be made about them,” said Chatinian. “They should come into force and become enforceable acts only after being upheld by court.”