But then the threats got more serious.

I was arrested and imprisoned for doing my job.

Two years later, they came to my home and set it on fire. I was not home but my wife and daughters were. They only survived because our neighbours saved them.

After a further attack on our family home in 2019, when my family and I were all inside, I knew I had to leave; they had made it clear they wanted to kill me.

My name is Alaz, and I’m a Kurdish refugee from Iraq. I’ve been a journalist for 30 years. Today I have been thinking about the American war on Iraq, which started 20 years ago this month. That war was a disaster for the whole region, because the US and UK governments had no plan for what happened afterwards.

Because of that, it was easier for people who wanted power to grab it. Those kinds of people hold onto power by silencing and persecuting their critics, so the situation created more refugees.

I am an example of that.

The bombing made people fear for their lives every day, and so many ordinary people were killed. It was horrific. But it was a strange conflict because its consequences were in many ways worse than the war itself – afterwards it was worse than under Saddam, because instead of one dictator we had lots of them, each with their own areas. We all saw what was happening with our local leaders as they made sure all the money and work went to them, their family, their friends and anyone willing to follow them, and as a journalist I spoke out on behalf of my people.

But those new dictators made it clear I’d be murdered, and now there was no US or UK to protect me. The US had said they wanted to bring freedom to the region, but you have to protect freedom. We were told we would have it, but we had no protection.

It was my wife who told me I should go. I know sometimes people say, why are the wives not with the refugee men? But if the husband is in danger as I was, the only chance of him staying alive for his wife and children is to flee. My wife, daughter and son are still there, and they are not safe because of me. I miss and worry about them so much it’s painful for me; I hope badly that I will be given asylum so they can join me.

It took me 48 days to get to the UK. I almost died on the boat crossing to Turkey, and crossing the Channel was almost as frightening. I came with 12 others in a lorry carrying vegetables. That was more than two years ago now, and I have still not had my interview. Being stuck here and unable to work is so frustrating; I feel like someone who has been imprisoned, unable to contribute to my new community.

– Alaz, refugee

Many refugees like Alaz have to make these heartbreaking decisions all the time, and when they arrive in Calais or the UK we are there to give them as much support as we can to make them feel safe and to help them regain their hope for a brighter future. That wouldn’t be possible without our hundreds of volunteers. Join us today to support refugees like Alaz: care4calais.org/get-involved/

#RefugeesWelcome #Refugees #Volunteers #KurdishLivesMatter #JournalismIsNotACrime

Names and images have been changed.

The post Alaz’s story appeared first on Care4Calais.

When Zoran was a young boy growing up in Iran, his mum and dad were murdered by the government for their political views. His grandfather raised him in a small, remote village where Zoran got no schooling. Bring Kurdish, Zoran was part of a persecuted minority with little chance of a job.

His parents’ deaths marked the start of years of unhappiness and depression for Zoran, and being isolated and persecuted in the village only made things worse. He knew he had to escape.

Aged just 16 he left home to search for a safe future with the chance of employment, and walked to Turkey with a friend. They smuggled themselves into a fruit lorry, and after three days’ travel they emerged in a town in southern England.

Zoran claimed asylum on the grounds of his Kurdish ethnicity, his political view, and his parents having been murdered for their politics. He also applied on health grounds, citing PTSD and depression caused by his parents’ deaths and his journey to the UK.
He was put into the care of a local authority and given a social worker, but his asylum claim was refused.

Fortunately he was given discretionary leave to remain in the UK as he was under 18; good news, but just imagine the fear and uncertainty this brought to someone who was still only a child.

Having nothing to go back to in Iran, Zoran tried hard to stay in the UK, where he had found safety. For several years he endured a series of claims, appeals and rejections. In 2017 his lawyer told him nothing else could be done.

But then he met Aiden, a Care4Calais volunteer with our Access Team. And Aiden refused to give up.

At first Aiden helped Zoran to lodge further claims, but these were rejected, and things took a downward turn. Zoran’s support funding was withdrawn, and he ended up sleeping in a disused shop, and scouring for food. He was desperate for money and support, and this took him down a path that included associations with local petty delinquents.

In 2018 he was given a small package to “look after.” When police raided a gathering of people Zoran was among, everybody in the gathering was taken into custody and Zoran’s package turned out to contain a very small amount of an illegal substance. Zoran was charged with possession of drugs.
Zoran called Aiden to collect him from the police station at 5am that morning. Aiden found him a criminal defence lawyer willing to work on legal aid, and when Zoran’s case went to Court, he was placed on probation.

The impact of the drugs conviction on the asylum claim now became a huge worry.
Zoran, still homeless, developed several serious mental health issues, and Mind and the local authority mental health team sorted out emergency housing and support for him.
To many people it might have been a lost cause, but not to Aiden.

Somehow, working with incredible dedication, he found another law firm willing to look at Zoran’s case. And the new firm saw a ray of hope.

Zoran’s case had been turned down partly because the Home Office argued that Zoran’s political views and any activity in Iran would be unknown to the Iranian authorities. However, the new firm spotted that Zoran had been involved in political activity in the UK since he arrived here.

Pictures of Zoran protesting outside the Iranian embassy were found on a friend’s social media, and the law firm argued that these pictures were in the public domain, so could easily be seen by the Iranian authorities. A judicial review was lodged, and fingers crossed.

After a few weeks, the Home Office said that if the application for a judicial review was withdrawn, they would reconsider Zoran’s application. Zoran and his lawyer accepted, and a few months later, he was granted leave to remain for five years.

It was nine years since he left his village. The relief was incredible. This man had grown from a boy into man while he struggled to make a future for himself. Now someone had at last listened to him, he could begin the rest of his life.

Around the same time his probation came to an end, and he became eligible for Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. Eventually, Zoran was assessed as eligible for UC and allocated housing paid for by Housing Benefit.

Towards the end of that year, a British friend of Zoran took him to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He has become engaged to a woman there, and is now planning to apply for permission to bring his soon-to-be wife to the UK.

You can only shudder to think what would have become of Zoran without Care4Calais. He would most likely have been left on the streets to become one of the statistics in Britain’s prison system, or he would have been removed from the UK. It took two years of fighting, and endless hours of hard work by Aiden to find lawyers who could take legal aid – and huge amounts of advice and knowledge from others in the Care4Calais team as Aiden liaised with Zoran’s probation officer, social worker and GP, the council, the DWP and the Red Cross.

We were so pleased that Zoran was finally listened to, and that the Home Office realised he did deserve our help. Aiden says it feels amazing to have helped.

“It’s one of the most satisfying things I’ve done with Care4Calais. Zoran is now starting his new life and we have remained friends. In fact he now interprets for Care4Calais volunteers helping recently arrived asylum seekers.

“He’s about the same age as my youngest daughter, and he often tells people I’m his dad. He’s been through an ordeal he did not deserve and to watch him come out the other side and grow is amazing. I can say, ‘we did that’; we helped with that, and it made a difference.”

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