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Syrian Kurdish Family face new battle in their bid
to stay in UK 8.5.2007 |
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May 8, 2007
London, UK, -- A Kurdish family of asylum
seekers face yet another anxious wait to see if they
will be thrown out of the country – a full two years
after the government decided they could stay.
Lorin and Eva Sulaiman and their mother Amina
Ibrahim have had to reapply to the Home Office to
stay in the UK rather than return to their native
Syria, where they fear being persecuted and jailed
because they are Kurdish.
They have sent off a large dossier to the government
attempting to prove why they should not have to go
back, including reports from Amnesty International.
Several members of the family are politically active
in Syria and have been jailed in the past.
Back in 2005, after heavy pressure from Lorin's
schoolfriends, local MPs and The News, the family
were given exceptional leave to stay in the country
for two years by then immigration minister Des
Browne.
That period is now up and they face a renewed battle
to prove their case for staying.
The family arrived in Britain in 2002 speaking no
English, but now both sisters are studying hard and
hope to go to university.
Lorin, now 17, is at Havant College and wants to
become a lawyer, while her sister, now 19, is at
Portsmouth College and hopes to go into nursing.
Lorin said: 'Portsmouth is my home now, this is
where I feel I belong.
'We still do not know what would happen if we were
sent back. We could be put in prison or killed.'
Although no official reason was given why they were
allowed to stay it is believed to be mainly because
of their mother's medical condition, with the stress
of fleeing her native country apparently having a
lasting effect on her mental well-being.
Lorin said: 'My mother is still not well. She is
always scared and rarely goes out of the house. She
always thinks somebody is coming to take her away.
'I am still scared as well. There are times when the
police are called out where we live and I
immediately think back to when they came to our
house at 5am to take us away.'
They had to flee Syria after their father and
brother were imprisoned for protesting about the
country's government and the way it treats Kurdish
people, denying them the right to an education.
They have not spoken to them since they left and
fear their father may have been executed.
portsmouthtoday co.uk
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