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A PACKED public meeting
heard a heartfelt plea to save Naseh Ghafor, the
young Kurdish man who has been on hunger strike for
39 days.
Burngreave resident Jean Wood told around 100 people
at the meeting at the Verdon Street Recreation
Centre in Burngreave she would move "heaven and
earth" to save him.
Jean has been helping to keep a round-the-clock
vigil for Naseh, a 20-year-old Kurd from Northern
Iraq who has stitched together his lips and refused
food and medical attention, in protest at a Home
Office threat to send him back to Iraq.
Her vow came ahead of a series of last ditch
protests planned to publicise his plight.
A picket was being held today outside the Home
Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate on
Charter Row. It will be followed by a vigil at
Ellesmere Green, at the top of Spital Hill, tomorrow
at 5pm.
And on Saturday an emergency national demonstration
will take place in Sheffield in support of Naseh's
right to stay in Britain.
Naseh arrived in Britain two years ago after fleeing
Saddam Hussein's regime. He was refused asylum and
he has been refusing food and medical attention
since July 8.
The Home Office has remained firm on the issue,
saying it would set a dangerous precedent to grant
asylum to people on the basis of their harming
themselves.
Officials say they will give him support - but that
is conditional on his cooperation.
Ms Wood told the meeting, hosted by the Sheffield
Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers: "I will do
whatever it takes to try and help save Naseh; I will
move heaven and earth for this young man.
"I will do everything that I can. Surely Mr Blunkett
can help. I have written three letters in the last
week to him, and to Mr Blair. But still they are
leaving Naseh with no hope."
The audience of local residents, trade unionists and
anti-racism campaigners, included representatives of
the Kurdish Community Centre, the National Coalition
of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, the Iraqi Federation
of Refugees, and the Sheffield-based Monitoring
Group North.
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