Seoul court grants refugee status to 3 Iranian converts to Christianity

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court granted refugee status on Wednesday to three Iranian Muslims who converted to Christianity while in South Korea, citing the considerable persecution the converts might face back home as the reason for its unprecedented reversal of the Justice Ministry's denial of asylum.
The Seoul Administrative Court delivered the ruling in favor of three asylum-seeking Iranians who filed individual lawsuits to protest the Justice Ministry's previous decision not to give them refugee status.
A number of asylum seekers from Islamic countries have been awarded refugee status after fleeing their nations due to persecution for changing religions while still in their home countries.
But it is unprecedented for the local court to grant asylum to Muslims who converted to another religion after their arrival in South Korea.
The three complainants granted asylum in the latest ruling include a 40-year-old man, identified as R, who applied for the status from the Justice Ministry in 2008, citing the possible oppression he expects to face back in his home country.
But the ministry declined the request two years later, rejecting his claim that he is in fear of being persecuted for changing religions.
R came to South Korea in 2000 and converted to Christianity in 2008 after attending a local church for two years and being baptized.
Overturning the ministry's decision, the administrative court said there is enough evidence that R will face massive difficulties if he returns home "given that R's family and friends are expressing strong reluctance to accept his religious conversion."
"For the past years, persecution against Christians has worsened in Iran and the criminal law was revised in 2008 to allow capital punishment on those who convert to Christianity from Islam," the court said.
Under United Nations' convention, an expatriate can obtain refugee status from another country when the person cannot or is not willing to receive protection from his own country due to the fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion or a particular political opinion.
In a similar lawsuit filed by a Bangladeshi Christian pastor, the same court rejected the request for refugee status, saying the country is only a moderately Islamic nation in which unrestrained Christian activities are sometimes conducted.
pbr@yna.co.kr