Lawyers for Brisbane woman – whose campaign was supported by ministers and fellow former pupils – say decision will ‘rip her away’ from her husband

Iranian asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor has been given six months to leave Australia despite a long-running national campaign for immigration minister Peter Dutton to intervene and allow her to remain in Brisbane.

The former Yeronga state high school student had her application for a partner visa rejected by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection on Wednesday, in a decision her lawyers said would “rip her away” from her husband, Milad Jafari, and her community.

Shamsalipoor fled Iran aged 17 after an alleged rape by her stepfather and a forced marriage to a 60-year-old man, but has consistently been denied refugee status by the government.

Iranian-born asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor granted bridging visa Read more

In July last year, Queensland state minister Mark Bailey urged Dutton to “open his heart” and free Shamsalipoor from immigration detention. Students from Yeronga high school in Brisbane also rallied in support amidst a national campaign that saw her appear on the ABC’s Australian Story.

In September, she was released from two years of immigration detention and granted a bridging visa, with a three-month extension granted in March.

But Shamsalipoor received news last Wednesday that her application for a partner visa to remain with her Australian-resident husband had been rejected and “finally determined”.

Her lawyers said she would face persecution and imprisonment upon her return. They said: “This decision would see her ripped away from her husband and community and sent back to the country where she was horrifically violated and subjected to appalling domestic violence.”

Her husband, Milad Jafari, told Guardian Australia Shamsalipoor had been volunteering to help Brisbane’s homeless and was planning to become a midwife.

He said: “All I am hoping for in this world is to live normally with my wife and just have certainty for her to stay in Australia.

“She just wants to contribute in Australian society. She loves Australia so much, she’s been here for five years, she calls it her home. She’s a very kind person who wants her rights to be defended, not destroyed.”

The asylum seeker has been described by her former deputy principal, Jessica Walker, as a “valued member of the Brisbane community” who has spent her whole adult life in Australia.

Shamsalipoor was months away from graduation when she was removed from school and placed in immigration detention in Darwin. She wrote in March that living in Australia had “rebuilt her life” and that she would be subject to torture in Iran.

“Back in Iran, my stepfather did one of the worse things you can do to a girl. He took my innocence by force ... I’d rather die than return to Iran. It’s better to die, even aged 23, than to return to torture over there.

“The beautiful Brisbane community which welcomed me with open arms over the last five years has helped me to rebuild my life. I’ve had two jobs and am completing a certificate in health studies. My pledge to Minister Dutton is to spend every day of the rest of my life giving back to my community in Brisbane.



“Please let me have peace and experience true freedom for the first time in my life.”

She and her husband are planning to speak out against the decision at a protest organised for World Refugee Day on Saturday.

“We think this was a very unfair decision,” said Jafari. “They had no reason there, they just said they did not wish to intervene. The only thing that came to my mind was that they are using us as their political tool.

“I don’t want my family to be destroyed because of political reasons. I just want to ask people who are supporting us to write letters to their parliamentary members, because they know this is not fair.

“I’m going to fight for my wife’s rights, and no matter what happens, they know that my wife is a genuine refugee.”