By David Paulsen
Mahan Motahari, 38, and Mozhan Motahari, 31, have been active for the past three years at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in McLean, Virginia. They were traveling with family over the Thanksgiving holiday when they were detained Dec. 1 at Cyril E. King Airport in the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands and taken to a federal detention facility in Florida.
Mahan Motahari, 38, left, and Mozhan Motahari, 31, are seen in a photo released while in federal detention by Customers and Border Protection.
Their attorney contested their detention by filing what is known as a “habeas” petition, which a federal judge granted, and on Jan. 16 they were approved for release on bond. Mozhan Motahari was released the next day, but authorities delayed Mahan Motahari’s release until Jan. 21. Both are now home again in suburban Washington, D.C., while their asylum cases proceed.
“We are just thrilled,” the Rev. Fran Gardner-Smith, St. Thomas’ rector, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview Jan. 22. “We’re so happy to have them released and can’t wait to welcome them back [to the church] when they’re feeling well enough.”
Gardner-Smith was part of a group of about 10 members of the church who were able to observe the Motaharis’ bond hearing from their lawyer’s office through an online portal. “The judge noted that there were a lot of us there in support of them,” Gardner-Smith said. “We could not have fit another human in the lawyer’s office.”
The Motaharis’ lawyer, Parastoo Zahedi, told ENS in December that Customs and Border Protection had incorrectly identified her clients as “unlawfully” in the United States. The two sisters had legally applied for asylum, and U.S. law typically allows asylum-seekers to remain in the country while they wait for hearings on their claims. The sisters also recently had been granted five-year work permits by another government agency.
Mahan and Mozhan Motahari have been in the United States at least since fall 2022. They were baptized at St. Thomas after first encountering Christianity in Iran, Gardner-Smith said. Until their detention, they had been involved in multiple ministries at St. Thomas, which has a significant number of members with Iranian heritage.
Gardner-Smith said she and other supporters experienced a mix of emotions after both sisters posted bond but initially only one was released. Now that both are free, Gardner-Smith said she is both “so happy” and “profoundly sad” that the Motaharis had to live through this ordeal at the hands of the government.
“They’ve done nothing wrong,” Gardner-Smith said, yet many asylum-seekers face the threat of similar treatment as the Trump administration seeks to curb both legal and illegal immigration. “There are people all around our country who are being detained for spurious reasons. … My joy [at the Motaharis’ release] is so tempered with seeing what’s happening to others.”
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.