A group of high -profile lawyers on Saturday filed a lawsuit against Panama for their arrest of deported migrants from the United States, threatening to disorganize President Trump’s new policy of exporting migrants from all over the world to countries in Central America.
The lawsuit, filed against the Panama government before the Inter -American Commission on Human Rights, names 10 Iranian Christian converts and 102 migrants detained in a camp near a Panama jungle as plaintiffs, according to a cook for the New York Times.
Demand argues that the United States violated the Iranian group’s right to asylum due to religious persecution and that Panama has violated national and international laws, such as the North -American Convention on Human Rights, in their arrest of migrants.
The lawsuit was only filed against Panama, although one of the lawyers involved said he was planning to file a separate complaint against the United States National Security Department this week.
Answering a request for comment on demand, a spokesman for President Raúl Mulino de Panama, Astrid Salazar, said that migrants are « not detained » by the Panama government. « They are not in our command, but to the one of OIM and the UNHCR. »
Migrants are being held in a closed camp Shorted by Armed Panama Police officers and the Panama Ministry of Security controls all access to the installation. The International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency have no regular presence in the camp and said that they are not responsible for migrants, but that they offer humanitarian support, such as providing funding for food.
The lawsuit filed on Saturday calls for the commission to issue emergency orders by saying that none of the migrants detained in the field of La Selva should be deported to their countries of origin.
« The Panama government has no national or international authority to detain people in these circumstances, » said Ian Kysel, a clinical professor associated with Cornell Law School and the principal lawyer for the plaintiffs.
In mid -February, the Trump administration opened a new front in its efforts to deport millions of people by sending newly arrived migrants from around the world to Central America. About 300 people were flown in Panama And celebrated in a hotel in the city of Panama, including the ten Iranian converts, including.
More than 100 people who did not agree to return to their countries of origin were lTerra moved to a detention camp near the Darién junglewhere they remain.
The Trump administration thanked Panama for their attendance when facing the migration challenges. But the arrival of the deportees and their arrests have created problems for the government of Mr. Mulino, who agreed to take migrants, but has received criticism from the United Nations, human rights activists and lawyers for having them kept without criminal charges.
The Human Rights Commission is a seven -member body The decisions that are applied to the members, including Panama. It is intended to use -when individuals feel that their domestic legal options have been exhausted or in cases where irreparable damage is imminent and claimants say they need quick legal protections.
The commission cannot impose sanctions, but ignoring its decisions could lead to political risks.
José Miguel Vivanco, an expert in human rights issues in Latin America, said that if the commission ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, he thought that Panama would fulfill.
If the governing commission in favor of the plaintiffs, stopping his deportations, could make it difficult for Mr. Trump to convince Panama leaders and other places to take migrants with the United States.
After sending migrants to Panama, the Trump administration sent 200 migrants from Central Asia, Middle East and East Europe to Costa Rica, including dozens of children. As a Panama, migrants remain in a remote installation at several hours by car in the capital.
Kysel said that similar legal action is expected against other countries in Latin America, including Costa Rica, that they cooperate with Mr. Trump and accept the deportees.
In both cases, the governments of Central America said that they were planning to deport people quickly to their countries of origin. In demand, lawyers argue that for the deportation of Iranian Christians would fall « irrefutable damage », because Iran’s law stipulates that the conversion of Islam is a crime punishable by death.
« I am afraid of what will happen to me at the hands of the government of Panama, » said one of the Iranians, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, in an affidavit filed with demand. « I still want to look for asylum in the United States and follow a free life as a Christian. »
Mrs. Ghasemzadeh, 27, who fled Iran in December and headed from Mexico through the southern United States borderHe has been publishing his ordeal in media interviews. He attracted global attention when a video explained that he was run over and deported to Panama widely extended online.
The commission usually issues decisions in these cases in a few days, said Vivanco.
He said that the bar for the commission issues protections to the plaintiffs is very high. But, given the politics of Iran to converted Christians, he thought that the case had an opportunity. « I think this will attract the attention of all those involved, » he said.
Kysel said he hoped that the demand for other countries to participate in Mr. Trump’s deportation plans.
« Panama and any other country in the region face legal responsibility if they receive, detain and sport asylum seekers expelled from the United States, » said Kysel.
Demand is the result of collaboration between lawyers and legal groups in various countries.
One of the lawyers, Ali Herischi, who represents the Iranians Pro Bono, said he plans to file a separate lawsuit this week against the National Security Department. The demand would be on behalf of Ms. Ghasemzadeh and the nine Iranian Christian converts, three of them children, in Panama and three deported Iranians in Costa Rica.
A spokesman for the National Security Department said that none of the migrants had « stated the fear of returning to his country of origin at any time during processing or custody. »
Ms. Ghasemzadeh claims that he repeatedly asked to fill in paperwork for asylum, but immigration officials in the It wasn’t the time.
Herischi said that the motion would challenge the legality of his deportation and requests as a remedy that the group allows to request asylum in the United States.
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