Court stays deportation of asylum seeker

HELSINKI, Finland, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- An administrative court in Helsinki has stayed an order to deport a Kurdish woman to Iran permitting her to remain in Finland pending an appeal.

Asylum seeker Naze Aghai is now free to move out of the detention center where she has been staying for two weeks, Helsingin Sanomat reported Monday.

Aghai was scheduled to be sent to Iran on Tuesday until the administrative court ruled that the deportation order issued by Finland's Directorate of Immigration shouldn't be implemented for now.

The Kurdish woman threatened to take her own life if forced to return to Iran where she said she faces an arranged marriage.

Her case reached national attention in June when she took sanctuary at St. Michael's Parish in Turku after being denied asylum.

Members of the congregation said sending Aghai to Iran would amount to a death sentence.