Three Iranian Kurdish refugees, who have been refused asylum in Britain, are on hunger strike. The Three men, Faroq Haidari, Farnborz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haydary, have now been on hunger strike for 15 days. They have apparently now stopped taking fluids, and are in a really bad way. Earlier today, two of the men blacked out and were admitted to hospital.

The men are faced with a harsh choice, as once refused asylum they have no right to work, housing or benefits of any kind. They must choose whether to return to Iran and face arrest, imprisonment, torture - perhaps death, or stay and starve on the streets of Scotland.

Around 200 people attended a hastily organised solidarity demonstration on Tuesday evening, outside the city chambers (council offices). In a statement read out to protestors, the men say they would rather die than return to Iraq.


GLASGOW CAMPAIGN TO WELCOME REFUGEES

MEDIA RELEASE – March 1, 2004

BLUNKETT TIGHTENS THE NOOSE AROUND THE NECKS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS! –

PROTEST RALLY IN SUPPORT OF KURDISH HUNGER STRIKERS:

Tuesday, March 2, 4.30pm, George Square, Glasgow

Figures from across Scottish political life and civic society will gather in George Square tomorrow to demand the urgent withdrawal of the deportation orders against Faroq Haidari, Farnborz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haydary, the Kurdish asylum seekers from Iran who are now in their second week of hunger strike.

It is now 11 days since the men sewed their mouths shut in a desperate and painful protest against both their deportation back to Iran and the British government’s declaration that it will remove all housing and financial support from them if they refuse to return to their homeland.

Faroq, Farnborz and Mokhtar are very much weakened by their ordeal. They have stated that they would rather die here in Scotland, fighting against their deportation, than be tortured or killed by the security forces in Iran.

Unless the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, withdraws the deportation orders now it seems certain that the men will die horrible deaths.

This case gives the lie to the British government’s insistence that it only deports people who are safe to return to their countries of origin. Why would these men risk permanent injury - such as loss of sight – and even death if it were not for their terror of returning to face an Iranian state which is notorious for its human rights abuses against the Kurdish people?

The lives of three refugees from racist persecution lie in the hands of a Labour Home Secretary. David Blunkett has played macho politics with the asylum issue for too long, it is time that he examined his conscience and spared the lives of the hunger strikers.

GLASGOW CAMPAIGN TO WELCOME REFUGEES
c/o FBU, St Enoch Square, Glasgow
Tel: 07776 114 322 (Mark Brown, campaign secretary)

Asylum hunger strikers black out
BBC News, UK – 4 March 2004
Two failed asylum seekers have fallen unconscious, 15 days after stitching
up their mouths and going on hunger strike in Glasgow. ...  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3532863.stm

Iranians who sewed their lips reject pleas of friends
The Herald, UK - 23 Feb 2004
FRIENDS and supporters of three Iranians on hunger strike pleaded in vain with them ... under blankets in a sweltering room in the south side of Glasgow, the three ...  http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/10564.html

Asylum seekers sew up mouths in protest
The Herald, UK - 22 Feb 2004
THREE failed asylum seekers have sewn up their mouths and gone on hunger strike because
they face deportation ... There are a further 17 Iranian Kurds in Glasgow. ...  http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/10509.html

Asylum seekers stitch up mouths
BBC News, UK - 22 Feb 2004
Three failed asylum seekers have sewn up their mouths and gone on
hunger strike in Glasgow. Farouk Haidari, Farnborz Gravandk and ...  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3511633.stm