Deported by US, Iranian Christian convert stranded in Panama jungle camp

Fearing for her life in Iran after converting from Islam to Christianity, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, 27, arrived at the United States southern border hoping for asylum.

Instead, she was flown handcuffed and shackled by the US military to Panama, where she has been sent to a remote camp in the midst of a sprawling jungle.

US President Donald Trump was elected in part to clamp down on illegal immigration and has stepped up deportations of people his administration has called "illegal alien criminals".

Artemis protests, telling Iran International in a series of voice text messages that she only seeks safety from possible execution at the hands of Iran's Islamic theocrats.

“The message that I have for the world is that we are not criminals,” she said, using a phone shared among the migrant detainees.

“We are just refugees who left home to seek a better future. I am just looking for a good future full of peace and safety.”

After members of her bible group in her hometown of Isfahan in central Iran were arrested, she felt she could be next.

Iranian law forbids conversion from Islam to Christianity - a crime punishable by death.

Her spiritual awakening could cost her life, she feared. It was time to flee.

Her first port of call was Dubai to apply for a work visa to Mexico. Upon arrival in the Mexican capital Artemis traveled to Tijuana where she climbed the border wall to the United States, where she says she felt a sense of relief for the first time in years.

It was not to last.

Darien gap

Artemis, who is one of at least 12 Iranian nationals deported together, was removed by US authorities from a migrant camp in San Diego run by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and told their flight was bound to Texas.

Reading local signs upon her arrival, she realized with dread that she was in Panama.

Panamanian authorities first took the asylum seekers to a hotel in the city, surrounded by armed guards.

With her red lipstick in hand, Artemis wrote on the window of the hotel, “help us.” The photo was captured by the New York Times and went viral online, becoming an emblem of the migrants' plight under the Trump administration.

Artemis started a social media account to document her experience before going silent as she and others were taken from the hotel to the San Vicente Migration Centre near the Darien gap jungle between Panama and Colombia.

The area is rife armed guerillas, drug traffickers, vipers and diseases like dengue fever.

Authorities have blocked journalists and aid groups from entering. When they arrived at the site, Artemis’ phone was confiscated, forcing the migrants to communicate with the outside world via a single shared phone hidden from authorities.

“The conditions in the camp are terrible. The sanitary conditions are zero, even worse,” said Artemis.

Artemis told Iran International many of the asylum seekers felt unsafe inside the camp, saying criminals and gangsters were being held in the same building. They decided it was better to sleep on a bench in the open air surrounded by the jungle.

“On the first day, they only gave us one bottle of mineral water. We must use the water in the camp from the faucet, which is full of dirt and chalk.”

Artemis said they subsist on stale bread: “The food is terrible. It’s only helping us stay alive. The food just helps us stay full and not die."

Who are the deportees?

The Iranians are among the first group of 119 people flown to Panama on February 12. Another flight came the next day amounting to a total of 360 migrants removed from the US to Panama.

The deportations are part of an agreement between the United States and Panama. It follows a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Panama as tensions festered over President Trump’s threats to seize the Panama Canal.

According to Panamanian law, detention beyond 24 hours without a court order is illegal, but it remains unclear how long they will remain at the site.

Authorities say migrants who do not wish to return to their country of origin, they would have to choose a third country.

Ali Herischi, the Washington DC based lawyer representing Artemis and 11 other Iranian migrants, said his clients were not provided by the United States with a legally-mandated "credible fear interview", which is meant to determine if the migrant faces a plausible threat if they return to their home country.

Herischi plans to file a complaint at the Inter-American Court of Human rights against Panama and the United States to prevent this from happening the future and to secure legal rights in Panama for his clients.

Artemis, meanwhile, pleads to live her life and cherish her faith in safety.

“Everyone, including myself, dreams of freedom and peace, which is the right of every human being anywhere in the world. But now I’m in a situation full of pain."