Amir Mesrinejad spent the last five years in a detention centre, but ask the Iranian refugee how he feels and he will tell you "I have been blessed".
Amir was released from Villawood Detention Centre on September 9 to the welcome of Christian friends who have supported him through prayer, visits and fellowship over the past five years.
Amir was born into affluence in Iran, and had the opportunity to study in the US as a teenager. Upon returning to Iran he completed tertiary studies. It was his time running a bookshop near Tehran National University that landed him in trouble with the government.
"In 1993 I had serious problems with authorities over the bookshop I was running. During a raid in my shop, a book was found which was considered to be banned," Amir recalls.
"As a result my shop was closed. I was tortured for three days then taken to the revolutionary court. I was imprisoned for a month until my family paid a large bond."
By the middle of 1994 a warrant for Amir's arrest had been issued. He fled Iran, and with the help of people smugglers made it to Indonesia.
"They left me stranded with no documentation and little money."
While in Indonesia, Amir told the Australian authorities in Jakarta about a range of criminal activities being conducted by the people smugglers.
He named names.
It is likely that Amir's information led to the later arrest of these criminals.
However his information, freely given to the Australian police, had put his life in Jakarta under serious risk and he was forced to flee to Australia via the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Upon arriving at the tip of Torres Strait he turned himself in and was immediately transferred by authorities to Villawood.
"When I arrived I considered myself having no religion. I had a problem with Islam from an early age. I found it very confusing being Iranian but having to pray in Arabic. I did not understand what I was saying to my God," he says.
"Other Iranians in Villawood were already in Bible studies. When they found out I spoke English they invited me to join in and help translate."
St Paul's Carlingford lay minister, Stewart Binns, who was leading the Bible studies at Villawood, gave Amir a Bible in Farsi to make it easier for him understand.
"In detention I had nothing to do so I started studying the Bible. I started with [the] Old Testament. It was a book of history for me at first, but by the time I read the first five books I realised Islamic laws are the same as exist in the Old Testament," he says.
"Then I read the gospels and all the questions I had all my life about how to communicate with my God and the way to holiness were answered."
Amir made a commitment in mid-2001 and was baptised in Villawood soon after.
"Many dramatic changes occurred in me leading up to the baptism. I knew what I was and what characteristics I had in my past life. Now I had become a different person. I could not explain it any other way than the work of the Holy Spirit."
Amir says there were times while in detention that he feared being sent back to Iran and the possibility of facing persecution and even execution because of his conversion to Christianity.
"Some authorities claim no one has been executed for apostasy, but the Iranian regime " knowing the world is watching " arrests people for apostasy then executes them for drug running or other false crimes. That's how many Christians in Iran have lost their lives," Amir says.
Amir is using the biblical knowledge he gained while completing 10 units of the Preliminary Theological Certificate in Villawood to train new Iranian Christians.
"I am involved with the Persian Church of Guildford and helping them run PTC. In the past year and a half the church has grown from three to 15 people and most are new converts who were in detention in Villawood."
Amir also has a Ministry Training Strategy apprenticeship lined up at St Paul's, Carlingford next year.
He particularly thanks Stewart Binns for creating this opportunity.
"Stewart had a very important role in converting all of us. He encouraged the detainees to stay on the right path. I am looking forward to working with him."
Drawn from Southern Cross October - read more stories…
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