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Iraqi refugees on hunger strike to protest planned
deportations to Baghdad
24 Iraqi refugees held in a detention centre in Oxford
have started a hunger strike to protest against the
government’s plans to deport them to Baghdad. More than
70 people are currently being held in detention centres
around the country. Officials from the Iraqi government
are currently visiting them to confirm their identities
so that they can be deported, as part of an agreement
between the two governments.
The majority of the detainees have refused to meet with
the officials in protest at their role in the
deportations.
A statement from the group, which consists of Kurdish
and Iraqi refugees, says:
‘Some of us don’t have any homes or nowhere to go in
Iraq. If we were returned we would be left to survive
for ourselves on the streets with nothing, which isn’t.
Some of us don’t even know if our family members are
alive or dead because we haven’t had any contact with
them for a long time.
While we have been in England, for all different amounts
of times, we have lived here safely and got on with our
lives. We have family and friends here. Being parted
from them at this time is very hard and stressful for
both sides. Some of us are engaged or married, and have
wives here in England. We also have children here, some
of us more than one. Some of our wives are expecting
babies. They need to be together as families.
Everyone has the right to be able to live in a safe
country. It is not right if we are returned to Iraq. Our
lives would be ended.'
Dashty Jamal from the International Federation of Iraqi
Refugees says:
‘the UK government is responsible for the tragedy in
Iraq. They are playing politics with the lives of Iraqi
refugees. They are making a deal with the despotic Iraqi
regime, which the Iraqi people are currently rising up
against, to send people back
There will be a demonstration outside the Iraqi
Parliament in Sulaymania on Sunday 12th June
to protest against the deportations.
For more information about how to support the campaign
against deportations to Baghdad please go to: http://www.federationifir.com/english/En.file/camping%20against%20deport%20to%20iraq.html
(Ends)
Contact: 07856032991, 07824996724
E mail:
ifir@hotmail.co.uk
www.csdiraqi.com
www.federationifir.com
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Notes for editors
1. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees
campaigns for the rights of Iraqi refugees and against
forcible deportations and detention. The Coalition to
Stop Deportations to Iraq campaigns against the forcible
deportation and detention of Iraqi refugees.
2. See www.csdiraq.com
or www. federationifir.com for more information on
previous deportation flights
3. At least four million Iraqis have been forced to flee
either to another part of Iraq or abroad since the war
began in 2003 |
