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The best friend of an Iraqi Kurd murdered in a race
attack claimed today that a rising tide of violence
was making Britain more dangerous than his home
country.
Kalan Kawa Karim, 29, was murdered in what police
are treating as a racially motivated attack by a
white man in the early hours of Monday morning.
Mr Karim was taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea
after the attack outside a pub in the South Wales
city, but died later of his injuries.
Sarkat Junad, 30, his best friend, said today that
the killing had shocked the city’s close-knit
Kurdish community and left many feeling fearful.
He also hit out at Swansea, claiming that the
seaside city was now among the most racist in
Britain.
He said Mr Karim was a gentle, peace-loving man who
believed he had escaped the brutality of Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq for the safety of Britain.
“He had been thrown in prison and tortured in Iraq
and lost part of his leg as a result of what he went
through,” said Mr Junad today.
“He came here believing it was a peaceful,
democratic country where he would be safe.
“All he wanted was to live in peace and safety in a
country he thought was civilised. He started getting
racial abuse as soon as he arrived.”
Mr Junad, who is married with a daughter, has lived
in the UK for 12 years and moved to Swansea to join
his friend who arrived two years ago.
He said that both initially lived in the city’s
Hafod area but he moved to Clydach, in the Swansea
Valley, after street attacks and racist taunts grew
too much for him.
“I have a young daughter and she has seen people
assault me in the street in front of our home. I
moved away for her sake,” he said today.
He added that Mr Karim had a wife and parents living
in Iraq who knew he was dead and were trying to
understand what had happened.
“At the moment, when they ring, I avoid talking to
them because they will want to know how and why this
happened and I can’t tell them.”
He said Mr Karim’s family is eager to have his body
sent back to Iraq for burial but it had not yet been
released by the police.
Mr Junad, who is a mechanic, said many Kurds in the
UK were awaiting events in Iraq to see whether it
was safe to return.
“I lived for most of my time in the UK in London and
I never had a problem there,” he said.
“I look at Britain as my second home but, to be
honest, with all the abuse and racism you get now, I
don’t think it’s worth staying here. I would be
safer in Iraq.
“I have travelled all over the UK to Liverpool,
Manchester, Birmingham, and I think Swansea is the
most racist city I have been to.
“It must be the most racist city in the UK.”
He went on: “The thing is, Kalan told me only a few
days before he died that he wanted to return to
Iraq.
“He wanted his wife and family to join him here but
the authorities would not let them in.
“After that he thought that it was better to return
to Iraq to be with them rather than be apart.”
Police say they are doing all they can to find Mr
Karim’s killer and have a team of 30 officers
working on the case.
They are trying to trace two white men seen with the
attacker before and after the assault. All three
were in their early 20s.
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