Fasting Iranians Issue Ultimatum

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- ``Death or a green card.''

Delivering that grim ultimatum to the Dutch government, two emaciated Iranians stuck to their hunger strikes Thursday despite a court ruling that one, at least, has no right to stay.

Amir Amiry and Majid Masseri, who say they fled persecution in their native Iran, have refused food since the government ordered them expelled as illegal immigrants.

Semiconscious and near death, Amiry has been without food for 62 days; Masseri has been fasting for 31 days, including a 10-day stretch without water.

Judges rejected a last-ditch injunction Thursday aimed at blocking Masseri's deportation, saying he did not make a compelling case that he faced imprisonment, torture or death in Iran, where he is accused of spying.

The court sided with the Dutch government, which maintains Iran's political and human rights climate is improving under new, more moderate leadership. Thursday's ruling did not deal with Amiry.

The men's plight has kindled debate in the Netherlands about whether the country is abandoning its tradition of taking in the desperate and downcast.

``They're to be deported like sheep,'' said Ahmed Pouri , leader of a refugee activist group. ``This is justice?''

Another 25 Iranians have launched hunger strikes in solidarity with Masseri, 41, and Amiry, 27, who have vowed to starve to death if they're not allowed to stay.

Dutch television reported that immediately after Thursday's ruling, Masseri -- hospitalized since Tuesday after going 10 days without water -- had left the hospital and was again refusing liquids.

``He always said: `Death or a green card,''' said Dr. Cees van Ojen, who had been caring for Masseri at a hospital in the eastern Dutch city of Nijmegen.

Van Ojen used the widespread term for residency status -- taken from the old color of U.S. immigrants' cards -- although it is not the term for immigrant cards in the Netherlands.

Amiry's doctors said he could die any day.

Throughout Europe, illegal immigrants are using fasts to test the generosity of countries that welcomed them just a few decades ago, but now are expelling them. Last summer, 10 Africans went on an eight-week fast in Paris to demand they be allowed to stay in France.

For centuries, the Netherlands has opened its doors to those in need, most notably the religious pilgrims who settled America and the thousands of Jews allowed in before World War II. Today, 300 people seek asylum every day in Holland, according to a report released this week.

Like many industrialized countries, the Netherlands has seen immigration rise steadily in recent decades, and sharply over the last five years.

The debate over whether to tighten immigration policies pits those who argue the system is already overtaxed and cannot support more newcomers against those who maintain openness to outsiders is part of the Netherlands' identity.

The rift is compounded by the fact that the Netherlands is Europe's most densely populated country, and many Dutch have been on waiting lists for housing for years.

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