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. ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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Comments
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support the hunger strikers
04.03.2004 19:33
1. Picket Tom Harris, the Kurdish mens MSP at his surgery Friday 3pm at the Couper Institute, Clarkston Road, Southside Glasgow. Bring banners, all welcome.
2. Please send messages of support to Faroq, Fariborz and Mokhtar
3. Please collect signatures and return the petitions sent out last week. If you would like to be sent the petition again (or it wasn't successfully attached) let us know.
***contact
'The case of Faroq Haidari, Farnborz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haydary
must surely shock even the Government's supporters into questioning
the brutal mistreatment of our fellow human beings.
The denial of basic human rights, the denial of justice, the return of some
to places of danger and the imposition of destitution on others, the
creation of new underclass of 'unreturnables' left to disappear from the
system, all of these horrors characterise the UK Government's approach to
asylum.
We must all work to support those who reach our shores in need of help, and
work for a society which meets human need with human compassion.
In the mean time these three men, among Glasgow's most desperate residents,
must be given leave to remain and support to recover from their ordeal.'
Patrick Harvie, Green MSP
--------------------------------------------------------------
Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees
c/o FBU
52 St Enoch Sq
Glasgow
Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees
e-mail:
glascamref@hotmail.com