In the aftermath of the clashes in Golestan-e Haftom in 2018, Labaf could escape Iran to avoid more persecution by the government. He has a long history of being arrested, tortured, and deprived of his rights because of his affiliation with the Gonabadi Dervish order.
Following the destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom in 2006, Labaf was arrested for the first time. He was charged with “insulting sacred religious values” due to performing prayers in Dervishes’ gatherings, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, flogging, and internal exile. A few days before the incident of Golestan-e Haftom, Labaf was arrested again. He was among those Dervishes who had gathered around the house of Noor-Ali Tabandeh, the spiritual leader of the Gonabadi Dervish order, in order to protect him. One night on his way back home, security forces chased Labaf and then stole his parked car. When Labaf went to the police station to report the theft of his car, he was taken into custody. Nematollah Riahi, a 68-year-old Dervish, went to the police department to inquire about Labaf, but he was apprehended, as well. The peaceful protest against the arrest of these Dervishes became the starting point of the clashes in Golestan-e Haftom.
In 2018, Amir-Ali Mohammadi Labaf left Iran for Turkey and ended up on the Lesbos Island in Greece. After about a year in Greece, during which his refugee status was unclear and he was suffering economic hardship, Labaf crossed the border on foot into Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he filed for asylum immediately. After Labaf figured out that Bosnia and Herzegovina rarely grants asylum to anyone, he decided to go to an EU country. In 2019, he crossed the border to Croatia, but he fell down a mountain and was severely injured.
The relevant authorities in Croatia, however, did not provide him with the minimum essential medical care and assistance in his asylum case, and instead forcibly moved him to the border and made him cross into Bosnia, without addressing his delicate and urgent need for medical attention. He has been paralyzed ever since and needs help with daily activities.
Labaf filed a complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as he claimed that his deportation from Croatia was illegal. Not having heard anything about the outcome of this complaint, Labaf again crossed the border to Croatia, this time in a wheelchair. Human smugglers left him alone, with no food and water, in the woods. Days after, Croatian police deported him for the second time. He was left at the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina without any necessities. He eventually found help after being in cold weather for two days. He contracted Covid-19 and was hospitalized in critical conditions for about two weeks afterward.