Refugees’ airport saga ends

Kamalfar, 47, said she never gave up hope she and her family would eventually arrive at another airport, a Canadian one, to begin their new life.

“I don’t know English, but first I don’t know how to thank for the Canada government,” said Kamalfar in a shaky voice. “Thank you so much for helping me and my child. Thank you for making me hang on.”

Kamalfar, who flew out of Moscow two days ago, said she has been helped by people she called angels who gave her the strength to continue pursuing freedom. She was proud to be an Iranian woman, she said, before fainting from the stress as her daughter Anna, 18, and son Davood, 12, stood by helplessly.

Within minutes, Kamalfar recovered. She reached for her children and they walked out of the confines of an airport for the first time in 10 months.

The family says it has no grand plans in Canada, and wants only to live simply and find some way to repay the country for opening its doors to them after so many months of hopelessness.

“I don’t care about anything. I can see the sky, the moon and the sun and I can breathe the air,” said Anna, as she carried a guitar case and two pieces of carry-on luggage, the only possessions the family had with them to begin their new life.

“I want to say to any person, freedom is very important and thank you Canada.”

Zahra Kamalfar had been jailed in Tehran for her involvement in political protests. Aided by her family there, she was able to escape prison and she and her children fled Iran in 2005 and made their way to Frankfurt, Germany.

Her husband was also detained in Iran but his fate is unknown, said Davood Ghavami, who is with the Iranian Canadian Congress.

The German government rejected their application for asylum and the family, having arrived in Frankfurt via Moscow, was returned to Russia, where they remained stuck in transit for 10 months.

Last November, Russia tried to enforce a deportation order and send Kamalfar and her children back to Iran, but supporters who became aware of the family’s plight appealed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In January, the family applied for resettlement to Canada, where Kamalfar’s brother has been living since 1997. Word came this week that their application as landed residents was accepted. In an interview from the Netherlands, Farshad Hosseini, who helped organize an international support network for the family, said it took pressure from many groups to prevent Russia from deporting the family back to Iran.

“She was in danger. Her husband had been arrested and she was arrested and raped,” said Hosseini.

“Her family managed to help her escape from Iran and there is no question that she would not be alive if she was sent back.”

The family’s exhilaration at arriving in Vancouver turned to more waiting at the airport yesterday when officials detained Kamalfar for more than an hour after their flight arrived.

She had tried to smoke a cigarette on the flight from Toronto.

Authorities questioned her at the Vancouver airport while anxious supporters and her brother Nader Kamalfar waited for the family’s arrival through the gates.

Nader Kamalfar said he was anxious to hug his sister, whom he has not seen in 13 years.

“All this time waiting and now (I) have to wait some more,” said the Burnaby, B.C., resident, who paced the corridors and nervously stuck his hands in his pockets. “I just want to see them.”

When his sister, niece and nephew finally came down the escalator, he held onto them tightly.

“This is a happy ending,” said Kamalfar as he swung a welcome arm around his nephew, who smiled shyly at his uncle.

Davood Kamalfar had a simple plan for how he wanted to spend his first days in Canada. After months of being cooped up inside a Moscow airport, the 12-year-old boy, wearing a baseball hat and T-shirt, wanted to see the sun before it got dark.

“I want to go outside and maybe take a walk,” he said.