Sweden denies work permit to Christian refugee facing deportation to Iran

The Swedish government has reportedly refused to grant a temporary work permit to a Christian refugee who is facing a dangerous deportation back to Iran.

According to CBN News, Iranian Christian actress Aideen Strandsson has been offered a job as a technology developer for the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, but she was unable to take the job because she is still considered as an illegal immigrant.

Strandsson, who converted from Islam to Christianity after having a dream about Jesus, came to Sweden on a work visa and applied for asylum in 2014 shortly after her conversion. However, the Swedish Migration Board had denied her application and had reportedly turned over her case to the border police for eventual deportation back to her home country.

The government had also denied her application for a temporary employment permit to allow her to work at Ericsson.

Experts have said that Strandsson faces certain prison, rape and possibly even death if she is deported back to Iran.

"The migration board information regarding Iranian prisons tells us that torture and rape is common and it is a breach of international law to subject any person to such treatment," Swedish attorney Gabriel Donner said back in August.

The board had already rejected Strandsson's asylum application twice even though its website states that it will never deport asylum seekers to nations where they face danger.

"They said to me, 'It's your personal life and it's not our problem if you decided to become a Christian, and it's your problem,'" Strandsson said in August.

After CBN broke the news about Strandsson's deportation, many viewers contacted the migration board to express support for the Iranian actress, but the officials refused to budge.

A migration board official reportedly contacted CBN and said, "the fact that your readers write to us will not change the Migration Agency's decision, nor can we change the court's decision."

"Her case has been appealed and processed by the Migration Agency and thereafter by the Swedish courts, which have also decided that she cannot be granted asylum," the official added.

The Hungarian government had reportedly offered asylum to Strandsson after learning about her case, and she has also received offers of help from all over the world. But the actress said she wants to stay in Sweden because she has family there and she feels that it would be wrong to back off from what she deems to be an "injustice."

While the Swedish government had denied her application for a temporary work permit, it had reportedly given 150 protected identities to former Islamic State fighters who have returned to the Scandinavian country so that they can find jobs.