An Iranian woman has spent 21 months in US immigration detention while her husband has been free for more than a year after he was granted asylum, despite the couple arriving together and describing similar fears of religious persecution.
Hannaneh Alikaram and Mohammadjamal 'Liam' Azizi, Christian converts who said they were twice arrested in Iran, entered the United States on 26 December 2024. Their cases later produced sharply different outcomes: an immigration judge denied Alikaram's asylum application on 2 July 2025, while another judge granted Azizi asylum six days later.
