In September 2016, after two years separated from her husband and an exhaustive community campaign, Iranian asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor was finally released from immigration detention into the loving arms of her family and friends in Brisbane.
It was a rare moment of pure joy for the 23-year-old, who fled her home half a decade ago after being raped and beaten by her violent stepfather and offered as a bride to a man in his late 50s.
When Mojgan first arrived in Australia in 2012, she was allowed to live in the community while the Government considered her request for ongoing protection.
Mojgan is free today! She has been released on a bridging visa. More details to come!
Posted by Free Mojgan on Tuesday, 20 September 2016
She found sanctuary in a local high school, and at a youth camp met the love of her life and future husband, a young Iranian refugee named Milad Jafari.
“From that moment, I saw her eyes, I went, ‘This is it’. I couldn’t talk. I was like, ‘Wow’,” Milad told the ABC’s Australian Story program, which aired its second episode dedicated to the couple’s plight last night.
“We were so happy before all these things happened.”
The couple married, moved in together and became much-loved members of Brisbane's Yeronga State High School community as they planned their future together in safety.
For a brief period, life for Mojgan was good and as her trauma slowly began to subside, her growing happiness was palpable to her teachers and fellow students.
But in 2015, just months before completing her HSC, her temporary bridging visa was revoked and she was locked up — first in Brisbane and then in Darwin.
Top Comments
Something that hasn't been made mention of, but I'm pretty sure I saw some brief reference somewhere that these two are Bahai, whether they converted or original Bahai not sure, but I have known many Bahai's (Iranian religion) and they were at one stage persecuted by the Muslims around the time of the Iranian revolution.
Not sure if they still are, but they are a religion that believes in peace and equality, from my experience with Bahai's wasn't just hype they were very committed to pacifism and indeed part of their faith was that they aren't allowed to try and convert others. I am personally very, very cynical about religion, but even I was quite impressed by the Bahais I met. Something they believed in was that people shouldn't 'backbite' their word for bitching or talking behind people's backs, because they believed that wars start from people talking nastily about others. They have a point because governments can hardly motivate people to war against people they like.
I spent a considerable amount of time with a number of Bahais and I found they really put this being nice about people into practice, they tried very hard not to say anything nasty about others and only see the good in people.
Sometimes I found it a bit 'pollyana' and impossible to do myself, but I did admire their effort in trying to just be nice kind human beings who were happy to tell you about their philosophy but not try to convert you. Having said that, they are human beings and certainly they varied, but they impressed me as being genuinely committed to pacifism and equality.
So whilst I have some concerns about some refugees I would think these two would be good candidates for being able to integrate and do good for Australian society.