REFUGEE ADMISSIONS REFERRAL: YALDA SHOJAE SANGANI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 005189 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR PRM/A, SCA/INS, DRL DHS/CIS FOR OFFICE OF ASYLUM, REFUGEE, AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS, EMBASSY CAIRO FOR REGIONAL REFCOORD E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2017 TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM PREL PINR IN SUBJECT: REFUGEE ADMISSIONS REFERRAL: YALDA SHOJAE SANGANI NEW DELHI 00005189 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Ambassador David Mulford for reasons 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) Embassy New Delhi refers Yalda Shojae Sangani to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) based on her experiece of persecution in Iran. Below is biographical information of the principal applicant, a description of the persecution claim, her current economic means, and health condition as well as justification for recommending her for the USRAP. ¶2. (C) Principal applicant (PA): NAME: Yalda Shojae Sangani DOB: 22 December 1981 POB: Mashad, Iran GENDER: Female MARITAL STATUS: Divorced ¶3. (C) Description of persecution claim as described in a letter from PA's father and a personal interview with PA: On November 30, Poloff met Yalda Shojae Sangani, who spoke spotty English. Yalda recounted that her father, Bijan S. Sangani, fled Iran for Pakistan in approximately 1994 when she was a little girl. She recalled the year because of FIFA world cup soccer matches being played at the time (Note: Yalda referred to the Persian calendar, which we have translated to the best of our ability. End Note). Her father was not a religious man and although Yalda claimed that her father worked as a photographer for weddings, she said the Iranian government assumed that he worked for the CIA. In 1998, Yalda's father gained refugee status and resettled in the U.S. Pursuant to Yalda's father's departure to the U.S., both Yalda and her younger brother were harassed periodically by the Sepah Pasdaran (Islamic Revolutionay Guard Corps). Yalda told of a night in 1999 when two men in plain clothes came to her house and abducted her. They took her to a deserted area in the mountains and accused her father of working for the CIA. They told her she that she was involved in "killing the people of Iran" and that she was from a "bad family." As tears came to her eyes she softly told Poloff that the two men proceeded to slap her and sexually assaulted her. In the morning she went to the police who told her to, "shut up and go home," if she wanted her life to return to normal. Out of shame and trauma, Yalda tried to kill herself, taking 235 pills, but her brother saved her and took her to the hospital. Since her father fled, her family name is targeted by the Iranian authorities and she was unable to get a passport unless she married. (Note: Iranian women require the permission of a husband, father, or other male family member to travel abroad. End Note.). In 2001, she found a man, Mahmoud Reza Faghfoor Nezhad, to marry in order to obtain a passport. After the marriage, however, he refused to divorce her, and extracted thousands of dollars from her while always promising to release her from the marriage. Yalda's father diligently sent money back to her in Iran from the U.S. Yalda's father noted in a letter to the Deparment of Homeland Security that the police harassed her younger brother on numerous occasions regarding his father's alleged cooperation with the CIA. In 2004, Yalda returned home to find her 18-year old younger brother dead, under suspicious circumstances. He appeared to have asphyxiated from the gas heaters in their apartment. Yalda never got straight answers from the police regarding her brother's death. Finally, in 2007, Yalda's husband agreed to the divorce, which finally came through on June 23, ¶2007. ¶4. (C) Yalda studied at University Azad Eslami and then worked as an accountant at University Pajaheshkadeh Oloom-e-Modieriat (translates loosely as Research College for NEW DELHI 00005189 002.2 OF 002 Management Studies) from 2005-2007. All her money went to her delinquent and unemployed husband. On September 20, 2007, with financial assistance from her father, she purchased a ticket from Mashad to Delhi, noting that this air route is less monitored by the Iranian government than flights out of Tehran to other destinations. Her father continues to support her financially. Since her arrival in India her father has sent her approximately $3,000 via Western Union and a Bank of America credit card. ¶5. (C) Poloff has sent scanned copies of Yalda's documents to the Iran Regional Presence Office in Dubai. In addition, Embassy has verified that she has no hits on the consular section's CLASS system. Poloff has also been in touch with UNHCR, which is experiencing considerable backlogs. Due to Yalda's vulnerabilty, being a single woman, UNHCR has expedited her case, resulting in her currently scheduled interview date of July 8, 2008. ¶6. (C) Justification for Resettlement: Yalda Shojae Sangani is a single female alone in New Delhi. She cannot return to Iran for fear of additional persecution due to her family's assumed associations with the CIA and her own record of abuse at the hands of the Iranian authorities. Having fled herself, she has only strengthened the Iranian authorities' assumptions about her and her family. UNHCR is experiencing considerable delays and will not be able to refer Yalda for processing in a timely manner. The Iran Regional Presence Office in Dubai noted that Yalda's case appears credible. Yalda's accounts of abduction and mistreatment at the hands of the Sepah Pasdaran are consistent with their modus operandi and are similar to other reports they receive. MULFORD