Lutheran pastor calls on Canadian Government to delay imminent deportation of Iranian convert to Christianity amidst fears for his life

UPDATE: Khansary’s deportation (scheduled for June 23, 2015) was cancelled hours before it took place. The Canadian Lutheran has posted an update here.

TORONTO – Members of the Church of St. Luke Lutheran in Toronto expressed dismay at the news that the Government of Canada intends to deport Seyed Mustafa Moosavy Khansary to Iran the evening of June 23. Khansary first began attending the Persian Fellowship at St. Luke in September 2013 and was a regular attendee until his detainment in June 2015.

Rev. J. Derek Mathers brought attention to the deportation on June 22 when he released an open letter to the Government of Canada via Facebook. There he noted his extreme concern that Khansary could face persecution for his faith if deported back to Iran, as Khansary converted to Christianity from Islam. “It is well known that in the nation of Iran, apostasy—conversion from Islam to Christianity—is punishable with torture and/or death,” Rev. Mathers writes in his letter. “We are deeply concerned about Mustafa’s safety if he is deported to Iran, and we respectfully request the Canadian government to: stay his planned deportation on Tuesday June 23, 2015, in the late evening; allow him to have the refugee hearing that has been denied him; and further allow him to stay in Canada until all due process has been completed.”

Rev. Mathers noted that Khansary began attending English-language church services in Greece five years prior to coming to Canada. He began attending St. Luke within weeks of his arrival in Canada, eventually becoming a candidate for baptism. After completing baptismal classes, Khansary was asked the following questions:

1. Do you believe that you are a sinner deserving God’s judgement?
2. Do you believe that you cannot save yourself from these sins?
3. Do you trust Jesus alone for your salvation?

Upon Khansary’s answers in the affirmative, he was baptized by Rev. Jeffery Kunshman, Associate Pastor of St. Luke. He received the sacrament of holy baptism on April 13, 2014 during a regular service of the congregation’s Persian Fellowship.

“Mustafa is a committed, vocal, confessing believer in Jesus,” Rev. Mathers writes. “He is passionate about Jesus and is always wanting to know more and more about Jesus from the Bible. He sang in our Persian Fellowship praise group and even wrote a drama in Farsi based on the story of Jesus healing the blind man in the Gospel of John, which was first performed at our Persian New Year celebration. As one of Mustafa’s pastors, I cannot believe that Canadian government officials, knowing that our government has broken diplomatic ties with the nation of Iran over human right violations, are in such a hurry to deport Mustafa.”

Rev. Mathers further reports that they “have made every effort to speak through official channels and established processes but the response has been a continual denial of our requests and the processes made available in what can only be seen as a rush to deport our brother in Christ as quickly as possible. Mustafa has even been denied a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, which looks at the level of personal danger he will face if he is returned to Iran. We worry about his safety and we respectfully make our request to the Canadian Government via the last avenue open to us, the public forum.”

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