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– Rahim has never been involved in any episodes at the reception center. He has behaved exemplary. All he has done is to be spokesperson for the asylum seekers at Senjehesten. That is why they ordered him to Vadsø, Frode Olsen said to NRK.

Rahim Rostami was imprisoned in Evin prison, Teheran from 10. February 2011.

Iran Human Rights announced on 20. June 2011 that Rostami was released on bail, and that the trial was imminent.

In an article published on the web page of the weekly magazine Ny Tid 24. June 2011, Rostamis attorney Cecilie Schjatvet said: "There is no doubt that the death penalty against Rahim Rostami is real". Ny Tid also said that the bail sum was almost 90 000 Euro, considered a very high sum.

While the immigration authorities processed the revocation request towards the UNE rejection, Rostami lived with friends in the Oslo region. In February 2011 a bank notified the immigration authorities that Rostami attempted to open a bank account bankkonto. He was detained in the bank by the National Police Immigration Service 9 February 2011, the same day UNE rejected the revocation request. After one night at Trandum Detention Center Rostami was deported to Teheran with police escort 10 February 2011, arriving 11. February at around 1 pm. He was there handed over to Iranian authorities, who immediately arrested him.

Rostamis family was 1. March 2011 notified that he was imprisoned against a bail sum of 10 million rials (almost 90 000 Euro), an enormous sum, but was two weeks later notified that the bail option was withdrawn, as Rostami was indicted for «crimes against national security». He is said to have spent several weeks in solitary confinement in Evin prison.

Iranian surveillance of opposition groups in Norway has been known for years, and the Iranian objectives of such surveillance is assumed to be to monitor and hinder any opposition against Iran in Europe. The activities of spies among Iranian asylum seekers in Norway has at several occasions been referred in Norwegian media, lately in a report at national TV broadcaster NRK 30 March 2011, around six weeks after Rahim Rostamis was deported. It describes how Iranian authorities attempt to recruit asylum seekers in Norway in order to infiltrate political exile groups in Norway.

The Iranian embassy in Oslo denied this categorically in a press release 1. April 2011 where they say that this is fiction influenced by the Zionist lobby, and that the purpose is to undermine the bilateral relations between Norway and Iran.

Several Norwegian Non-governmental organizations mentioned Rahim Rostamis case as it became publicly known. When UNE director Terje Sjeggestad in an interview in the Rostami case with Ny Tid 8 April 2011 claimed that the Immigrations Appeal Board (UNE) is "a human rights organization with more competence on the area than other organizations in Norway", it triggered strong reactions from Amnesty Norway, the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

A line of Norwegian NGOs (Antirasistisk Senter, Norsk Folkehjelp, Norsk Organisasjon for Asylsøkere (NOAS), Selvhjelp for innvandrere og flyktninger (SEIF), Den norske Helsingforskomité, Redd Barna, Peoplepeace, Rådgivningsgruppa i Trondheim, KFUK-KFUM Global og Juridisk rådgivning for kvinner (JURK)) on 7. April 2011 made a joint petition to Norwegian authorities with three demands:

After Secretary of State Pål Lønseth of the Department of Justice told Ny Tid that UNE had been asked for a statement on the Rostami case, UNE published in their web page 19. April 2011 the statement "Claims without coverage", where they refuted all critical remarks made through the media in relation to the deportation of Rostami. They write: "The circumstances of the case, as they have been portrayed in the media, are significantly different from what UNE decisions are based on."

Two days later, 21. April 2011, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre published the press release "Increase in brutal public executions in Iran" where he puts forward: "One of the world society's most important sources of information on executions [in Iran] is therefore Iranian human rights organizations and -defenders. These groups and individuals are on a daily basis subject of threats, harassment and imprisonment. "

Following the media coverage of the Rostami case, the UNHCR office in Geneva sent a request to UNE 4. April 2011 requesting a complete copy of the file, with reference to their role as surveillance authority according to article 35 of the Refugee convention of 1951 and the annexed protocol of 1967, and the Norwegian Immigration Act §98.

In the wake of Rahim Rostamis forced deportation and imprisonment in Iran questions and criticism have been raised around the use of information from the Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre - Landinfo. Until 19. April 2011 the latest updated official information on Iran from Landinfo was dated as far back as to 2007, and thus contained no information on the severely deteriorating conditions in Iran after the Iranian presidential election in 2009, the Green Revolution and the intensification from the clerical regime of actions against the opposition.

On 19 April 2011 Landinfo published a report documenting the increased threat for turned-down asylum seekers returning to Iran. Much of the information in this report was based on material already published on UNHCR web pages, and the Rahim Rostami case was mentioned in the report.

General country information on Iran was in May 2011 removed from the web pages of Landinfo, and replaced by a link to the Swedish information web portal, explained by lack of resources for giving a satisfactory continuous updating on the situation. [1]

Iranian authorities have since the 2009 election tightened the grip around oppositional groups and individuals, and hits hard down on anyone suspected of disloyalty against the regime. Asylum seekers are pointed out as a group that by fleeing from Iran has shown such disloyalty, which is documented by The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre - Landinfo in a note published on their web site 19. April 2011.

Rahim Rostami comes from the village Narest in the western Iran. He came to Norway 17 years old as an unaccompanied minor. Rahim fled from Iran in August 2008, via Turkey and Greece to Norway, and applied for asylum in October 2008.

Rostami applied for asylum in Norway 12. October 2008. His application was initially evaluated and turned down by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) 9. October 2009, and the rejection was sustained by the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board 5. July 2010. Rostami was then ordered to leave the country within 4. August 2010. A revocation request was filed, but the Immigration Appeals Board sustained their decision 9. February 2011, the same date he was detained by the National Police Immigration Service. He was deported to Iran the next day.

Rostami was immediately detained after hand-over to Iranian authorities at Teheran Khomeini airport, and transported to Evin prison, a known torture prison north west of Teheran where regime critics are held. The prison is notorious for torturing political prisoners, initially documented in 2004 by Human Rights Watch in the report "Like the Dead in Their Coffins": Torture, Detention, and the Crushing of Dissent in Iran published on the web page of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Rahim Rostami (born 16 June 1991 in Narest) is an Iran-born asylum seeker who became known to the public in Norway via national TV station NRK in the investigative journalism "NRK Brennpunkt" programs where he in twice appeared in programs focusing on Senjehesten Asylum Seeker Reception Center where he came forward as spokesperson for criticism from the residents. The Brennpunkt programs pointed out unacceptable conditions at this reception center, which was later closed-down.