Homayoun Sabetara has been innocently jailed in Greece for more than three years. Like thousands of others, he is unlawfully accused of driving his own getaway car across the Greek border to apply for asylum. Ahead of his appeal trial on 24 September, 70 organizations, including LeaveNoOneBehind, borderline-europe and Sea-Watch, are calling for his release and an end to the criminalization of people on the move in Europe.
“I am simply afraid that my father will die in prison. I only hope that he will be acquitted on Tuesday. My father is innocent. No one seeking asylum belongs in prison.”, Mahtab Sabetara, daughter of Homayoun.
60-year-old widower Homayoun Sabetara fled Iran in the summer of 2021 to apply for asylum in Europe. But he never could. During his attempt to flee, he was forced to drive a car with other people seeking protection to Thessaloniki, as otherwise he would have been left abandoned in the forest on the Turkish-Greek border. Shortly after crossing the border, the police stopped the car and arrested Mr. Sabetara. After a year in custody, the Greek judiciary sentenced him to 18 years in prison. The charge: people smuggling. However, the trial observers concluded that the evidence used was insufficient and the proceedings unlawful. A systematic approach, as a study by borderline-europe reveals.
After 576 days in custody, the appeal trial was due to take place in Thessaloniki on April 22, 2024. However, the court postponed the trial by five months without further ado. Homayoun Sabetara had to go back to prison. He hopes that the date of September 24 will be kept.
“Homayoun Sabatera does not belong in prison. Seeing him there last week was a shock for me. If this is how Europe treats people in need, old people seeking safety, sick people who want to see their families, then the EU has abandoned the values on which it was founded,” says Sabetara’s lawyer Dimitris Choulis.
Homayoun Sabetara is no isolated case. We therefore demand:
- The immediate release of Homayoun Sabetara on September 24th
- The release of all unlawfully detained people on the move
- The end of all criminalization procedures of asylum seekers in the EU
