Court: No asylum for Iranian women solely because they refuse to wear headscarves
The two plaintiff women had both stated that they did not want to wear a headscarf and had become accustomed to the local "Western lifestyle". The OVG ruled that this did not yet lead to persecution with "considerable probability". The same applied to an illegal departure from Iran, an application for asylum and a longer stay in a Western country, as well as a "mere formal conversion to Christianity" or mere participation in demonstrations in Germany. The OVG therefore dismissed the second applicant.
The first, on the other hand, was successful. Here, the judges in Schleswig were convinced that she had "an identity-defining commitment to 'Western' values". It was therefore unreasonable to expect her to submit to the "regulations of the Iranian state that contradict these values". In addition, she had actively campaigned for women's rights in Iran and had also been "prominently involved in exile politics" in Germany. A photo in this regard is "easy to find on the internet".
A third plaintiff belongs to the Ahwazi, an Arab population group with around four million members in Iran. The OVG ruled that these people could not rely on so-called group persecution. Although there were "numerous de facto discriminations and restrictions", these did not "exceed a persecution-relevant threshold". However, the plaintiff had actively campaigned for the human rights of the Ahwazi on the internet, naming himself. As Iran could consider this to be critical of the regime, the OVG granted him refugee protection.
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Source: www.stern.de
