Iranian activist Mohammad Mahdi Rahimian, who lives in Georgia, was detained by the country’s Interior Ministry on Monday and transferred to a temporary accommodation centre for migrants, as authorities pursue procedures against him for remaining in the country without a legal basis.
The case comes amid wider concerns among Iranian dissidents in Georgia about their ability to remain in the country and the risks they could face if returned to Iran. Iranian activists living in Georgia have described fears over their safety and uncertainty surrounding their future in the country.
OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia
The detention has raised fears among Rahimian’s friends that he could be deported to Iran, where they believe his political activism puts him at risk. Rahimian has two daughters who attend school in Georgia, and his family’s future remains uncertain.
Parisa Shiralizade, a friend of Rahimian, told OC Media that he had been politically active for years and fled Iran because he feared being arrested by the authorities. She said he had participated in protests in Georgia, including demonstrations linked to the 2021 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and more recent protests against the Iranian government and its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
‘We have not left our country by choice. We had no other choice to do it, actually. Mohammad had no other choice but to flee Iran’, Shiralizade said.
The NGO Rights Georgia said it had met with Rahimian at the Migration Department’s Temporary Accommodation Centre and agreed on a legal defence strategy.
The organisation said Rahimian’s wife had also been summoned for an interview at the Migration Department, but that it had been postponed until Thursday.
Rights Georgia warned that Rahimian would face a ‘real and imminent threat’ to his life and physical safety if deported to Iran. It said it would pursue all available legal avenues to protect the rights and interests of Rahimian and his family.
The organisation also called on the authorities to comply with the principle of non-refoulement, Georgian legislation, and applicable international human rights standards. The principle of non-refoulement prohibits returning a person to a country where they would face certain serious risks, including persecution or torture.
The Interior Ministry’s Migration Department said that administrative proceedings against Rahimian began on Monday because he was staying in the country without a legal basis.
The ministry stated that Rahimian entered Georgia in April 2022 and applied for international protection on 26 December of the same year. After examining his case, the Migration Department rejected his application on 16 June 2024, saying there were no legal grounds to grant him protection.
Rahimian appealed the decision. However, the Tbilisi City Court and the Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld the ministry’s position, the ministry said.
His asylum-seeker status was terminated on 26 June 2026, leaving him without another legal basis to stay in Georgia, the ministry added. It said he had failed to leave the country after his legal grounds for remaining had expired and was detained under Georgian law.
‘Rahimian has the right to leave Georgia voluntarily for either Iran or a third country’, the ministry stated.
Shiralizade told OC Media that Rahimian had sought asylum in Georgia but that his application was rejected. She said Rahimian’s detention had left his two daughters distressed. One is in approximately the fourth or fifth grade, while the younger child is in the second grade. Both speak Georgian, Shiralizade said, and the younger daughter had started school in Georgia.
‘They are in the middle of the school year. They cannot go anywhere, especially back to Iran. It’s just not possible’, she said.
Shiralizade stressed that Rahimian would face serious danger if returned to Iran, saying she feared the authorities would arrest and kill him because of his political activity.
‘That is why we are doing our best to say that he should not be sent back to Iran’, she said, adding that the children had been in a ‘really bad condition’ since seeing their father taken away.
Shiralizade called on the Georgian authorities to give the family more time, at least until the children finish the school year, so they could consider their options.
She also urged Georgia and Western countries to listen to Iranian activists living abroad, arguing that they remained at risk even after leaving Iran.
‘We are expecting from the world, from the free world, from Western countries, from Georgia, to hear us, not to ignore us. This is a basic human right that we are asking for’, Shiralizade said.