Family fear deportation after ‘failing Bible test’
A CHRISTIAN Iranian family has been refused political asylum in Cyprus because one of the family members claimed the Apostle Paul replaced Judas Iscariot as one of Jesus’ disciples, Politis reported yesterday.
According to the paper, the family was forced to undergo a religious test to gain Cypriot citizenship, but because the relevant authorities ‘didn’t like their answers’ and the fact that the family crossed north, the husband is now in prison and his family faces deportation.
Theodoros Sarbalavadamir, his wife Sofia and their two children Daniel and Marios, now 13 and 14yearsold respectively, arrived at Larnaca Airport in 1999 seeking to start a better life . Both Theodoros and Sofia had twice applied for political asylum but were denied by Immigration.
By that time, the family was living in Limassol, with Theodoros working as a marble-cutter while Sofia stayed at home. The couple were baptised in 2002 before marrying officially in a Greek Orthodox Church. The children are attending the Linopetra Gymnasium.
Things took a turn for the worse when Theodoros and his family took a trip to the occupied north almost two months ago. Upon their return to the Nicosia checkpoint, customs officers in the south arrested Theodoros. He has been in prison ever since and Sofia says she dares not visit him because she is afraid of also being detained. She told Politis that she now only contacts her husband by telephone.
“We are living every single hour in fear that they will come knocking at our door and take us away,” said Sofia.
“We know of other Iranians that have been sent back to Iran. Certain death awaits us there. Especially for us because we are Christians. As soon as we get off the plane, they will take us to the Evin Central Prison where will be tortured and killed,” she said.
She added that her case is now with the Supreme Court and that she could not understand why there was so much antagonism against her husband and her family.
“We don’t want money. We want to live in peace and we want the right to work like everybody else.”
Her son Marios said, “We have been in Cyprus for seven years now, we have been baptised Christians, we celebrate all the Christian public holidays and we uphold the Christian tradition.
“I can only read and write in Greek and have appeared in a documentary on Christianity which has been aired in Cyprus. I don’t know why they are keeping my father in prison.
“Why don’t they just accept us as Cypriots? Our friends are here in Cyprus and our lives are in Cyprus.”
According to an immigration office worker who handled their case, the wife was discovered to have had “serious flaws” in her knowledge of Christianity when questioned by the authorities.
Remarkably, the mother was placed under suspicion when she told immigration officers that she didn’t know both her and her husband’s name-day.
She also failed to name who was Jesus’ Protocletos, or his First-named apostle, according to the Orthodox religion.
The mother also failed properly to explain what was meant by “God creating man in his own image”, could not name Jesus’ favourite disciple, while she also saying that the Apostle Paul was one of Jesus’ disciples and that he had replaced Judas Iscariot.
The same Immigration official said the aforementioned mistakes made during questioning led authorities to believe the woman had only converted to the Greek Orthodox to strengthen her chances of getting political asylum.
