Three Iranian citizens wanted by their government for apparent “blasphemy” against Islam and open criticism of the regime have been denied asylum in Denmark after a lengthy legal process, though they face near certain execution if they are deported back to Iran.

Houriyeh Gharehdaghi is a visual artist whose work criticizes the Iranian regime and its censorship by producing satirical images of the Prophet Muhammed. Her brothers, Ghasem and Sasan, on the other hand, have been involved in producing translations and audiobooks of banned texts—including Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, one of the more high profile novels to be banned by the regime. In 2015, the Iranian government issued a fatwa (an Islam legal ruling) against Houriyeh, declaring her work as blasphemous and calling for her execution. Shortly after, the three siblings left Iran for Denmark, where they intended to seek asylum.

The Gharehdaghis have now lived in the North Jutland region of Denmark for four years while preparing their asylum claims, but their applications were rejected earlier this year by the Danish government because the country’s Immigration and Refugee Board found their case to be too weak to demonstrate concretely the danger they face in Iran.

A central point of the Danish government’s rejection of the asylum claim is that Houriyeh was unable to present her paintings to the court as supporting evidence; the siblings’ attorney stressed that it is disingenuous for Danish authorities to expect her to have travelled to Denmark with this evidence, though, as it would have significantly added to the danger of their journey. Houriyeh also emphasizes that she began producing the paintings in question over three years before coming to Denmark, which she argues is evidence that she did not only begin criticizing the government as a means to gain residence in Denmark.

Additionally, authorities found an audio file on Ghasem Gharehdaghi’s phone in which an unidentified person instructs him how to answer questions in order to have his asylum claim accepted. While such a file could be incriminating, the siblings’ lawyer argues that the translation used by the Danish authorities is incorrect and that this evidence should be inadmissible anyway as it was obtained while they were searching his phone for other evidence in support of his claim. There is also no indication that Ghasem was seeking this information or that he used it to his benefit in any way.

At the center of the siblings’ appeal, though, is the alleged assassination attempt they believe was carried out against them by Iranian intelligence operatives in Denmark last April, which they believe points to the very real danger they face in Iran. In this instance, shots were fired through the window of the room the siblings were staying in at a North Jutland refugee center. The gunman was detained for four weeks but no further details regarding motive were ever released.

While the siblings do plan to appeal the Danish court’s decision to reject their asylum claims, they have now become “deportable” and have had to go underground while they await further developments. The threats and violence that the siblings have already faced mean that the Danish court must reverse its earlier ruling and grant them asylum in Denmark—their fear of persecution in their home country is well-founded and the basis for their first application’s rejection is tenuous. Please join us in calling for the immediate and indefinite protection of the Gharehdaghi siblings in Denmark.