In brief
After converting to Christianity in Iran, Artemis Ghasemzadeh fled to escape the death penalty, only to find herself in a detention camp in Panama amidst uncertain asylum prospects.
Artemis Ghasemzadeh's spiritual journey began during a visit to Turkey, where she felt an overwhelming sense of peace that led her to purchase a small Bible. Upon returning to her hometown in Isfahan, Iran, she carefully smuggled it in her clothes. Over the course of several years, her conversion from Islam to Christianity grew through a web of underground churches and secret online classes, culminating in her baptism three years ago, which she described as a profound experience of being “reborn.” In Iran, where Shariah law condemns apostasy as blasphemy punishable by death, her decision to convert was fraught with danger. With some members of her Bible-study group having been arrested, Ghasemzadeh made the harrowing decision to escape the oppressive regime and discrimination. In December, she set out for the United States, determined to live without fear of death. However, her journey took an unexpected turn. Now, at 27, she finds herself in a migrant detention camp on the edges of the Darién jungle in Panama. Alongside nine other Iranian Christian converts, including three children, she endures an uncertain fate. This new challenge poses additional hardships, as the migrants navigate the complexities of asylum under the stringent deportation policies instituted during the Trump administration. What began as an escape for freedom and faith has led her to seek refuge in a system where the outcomes remain perilously unclear.
