Asylum Seeker Has Right to Profess Faith in Public

According to the Middle East Times (Egypt), a German court ruled that an asylum seeker from Iran who had converted to Christianity may not be deported. Germany had originally denied the asylum seeker's request on the grounds that she had been able to secretly practice her religion in Iran. The asylum seeker claimed that her faith required public professions and attendance at worship services.

The administrative law judges reviewing the decision accepted her argument that a 2004 European Union directive requires the granting of asylum to those who face persecution for practicing their religion in public. Moreover, the court doubted that she could return to the secret practice of her religion after living openly in Germany.

Article 10 of that directive holds that:

1. Member States shall take the following elements into account when assessing the reasons for persecution: (a) . . . . (b) the concept of religion shall in particular include the holding of theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, the participation in, or abstention from, formal worship in private or in public, either alone or in community with others, other religious acts or expressions of view, or forms of personal or communal conduct based on or mandated by any religious belief . . .