LONDON: A Syrian interpreter abandoned by the UK’s asylum system attempted suicide after waiting nearly two years for a decision on his claim.
Ali, not his real name, arrived on a Tier 2 Highly Skilled Worker visa in 2020 and with permission to work as a translator for the Syrian White Helmets. He told The Guardian that fear of his application being rejected had severely impacted his mental health.
“I can’t sleep. It’s affecting everything – my mental health, my appetite. I can’t eat, I keep getting cramps and feeling really sick,” said Ali. “But as I was telling the Home Office guy all this, I said, ‘Please, give me a timeframe.’ ‘No, you have to wait.’ I said, ‘What can I do? Please help me. Help me to help myself.’ They said, ‘Write to me about what you’re telling me now.’
“It’s even more frustrating to go through even more bureaucracy when I’ve done everything they have asked me to do.”
With the Home Office refusing to provide him with any updates, timeframes, or assurances about his application despite repeated requests, Ali, who worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in Istanbul, said his mental health had drastically deteriorated.
Compounding his anxiety was knowing that his work had left his family in Syria as targets. His mother has been arrested and interrogated in a regime prison.
Ali added: “She’s now too terrified to speak to me, worried the line is being monitored. She’s traumatized and feels she is being watched, and I have no security here, which makes it even worse.”
He has been prescribed the strongest dose of antidepressants permissible by his doctor and is also seeing a psychiatrist and being offered urgent care.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Guardian: “The government is committed to ensuring asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay, but we are currently prioritising cases involving unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Asylum seekers have access to health and social care services, we take every step to prevent self-harm or suicide.”
Syrian interpreter left in asylum limbo for two years attempted suicide
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Syrian interpreter left in asylum limbo for two years attempted suicide
- Ali, not his real name, arrived on a Tier 2 Highly Skilled Worker visa in 2020 and with permission to work as a translator for the Syrian White Helmets
- Compounding his anxiety was knowing that his work had left his family in Syria as targets
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
