Anguish on the Polish border
Fatemah and her family are Iraqi refugees, likely to be killed if they return to Iraq; to make things even worse, Fatemah herself has a medical condition requiring attention. A few weeks ago, she and her husband Aras saw an ad for package holidays to Belarus that included visas that allowed you to visit the EU; thinking they could use the visa to claim asylum in Poland, they bought places for Fatemah, their two young children, and Fatemah’s father. Her husband stayed behind in Dubai, planning to join them later. Once in Belarus, Fatemah, her dad and two children …
Esfandiar’s story
My name is Esfandiar. I’m from Iran, but I’m also a Kurd, so life in Iran was never easy for me. I’m a teacher, but I couldn’t get a regular teaching job in Iran because I didn’t fit the government’s ideas of what a good Iranian should be and do. I wouldn’t spy on my fellow teachers or my students, but the Iranian government tried to pressurise me into doing so by making my life as hard as possible. Because I did not give in, they made it impossible for me to teach in regular schools, so I had to …