An asylum seeker who escaped to the UK after 5 years of torture in a Syrian jail has advised Sky News he was so traumatised by the lengthy look forward to a Home Office resolution on his case he tried to take his personal life.
It comes as new authorities figures present there are greater than 125,000 excellent asylum claims – a slight discount because the summer season however nonetheless larger than this time final yr.
Omar’s arms are riddled with 250 shotgun pellets, which causes him fixed ache.
He was fired on by the Syrian military whereas attending a pro-democracy demonstration in 2012.
Arrested whereas trying to hunt medical therapy afterwards, he was despatched to jail the place he mentioned he was recurrently tortured.
“They took me underground and started beating me, beating me and torturing me,” Omar mentioned. “They had pipes, thick water pipes, and they used those pipes to beat me with.
“They knew my palms and arms had been damage already and so they had been intentionally hitting the place my wounds had been. I used to be blindfolded so I could not see who was torturing me. They handcuffed my palms and hung me up for hours.
“You do not have a name. You’re just a number to them.”
We’re not utilizing Omar’s actual identify or exhibiting his face to guard his household in Syria. He managed to flee from jail after his father borrowed the cash to pay a $10,000 bribe.
He fled to the UK and claimed asylum in November 2020. But the lengthy look forward to the Home Office to course of his asylum declare – two years and 4 months – took an enormous toll on his psychological well being. Last August, six months earlier than the choice was lastly made, he tried to take his personal life.
“I was so disappointed,” he mentioned. “I was under the impression that Great Britain is great. And if I got to Great Britain, that I would not face injustice. But it wasn’t like that.
“For two years, they did not inform me they weren’t going to grant me asylum. And that was torture.”
Omar certainly isn’t alone.
An NHS study found 61% of those seeking asylum are suffering from serious mental distress, and they are five times more likely to suffer from mental health conditions than the wider population.
The latest Home Office figures, published this week, showed 125,173 cases were awaiting a decision at the end of September, a figure which is down 7% on the total this June, but is still up 7% compared with this time last year. 39,668 people have been on the list since before June 2022, well over a year.
A central part of the government’s strategy to reduce the future backlog is to discourage most asylum seekers from coming to the UK at all, with the threat of deportation to Rwanda.
While that has been blocked by the recent Supreme Court ruling – for now – the prime minister is determined to push ahead with the plan.
He has promised a new legally binding treaty with Rwanda to attempt to ease the judges’ concerns about claimants being sent home, and pledged to bring forward emergency legislation to ask parliament to confirm it believes Rwanda is a ‘safe country’. This could potentially happen as soon as next week.
Charities such as the Refugee Council are concerned the uncertainty of the situation for current asylum seekers makes their mental health even worse.
“It adds to the feeling of being destabilised, and the lack of hope for the future,” mentioned Sarah Temple-Smith, a supervisor on the Refugee Council’s Youth Therapy Project.
“The waiting is particularly hard for them. We know that a sense of powerlessness, a lack of autonomy is linked very strongly to mental illness – mental disorder, clinical depression, other things, even schizophrenia
“I’ve had many purchasers who’ve been by way of horrible issues – together with being compelled onto small boats at gunpoint and seeing different folks drown – who’ve truly mentioned that the ready and never realizing is a worse torture than what they have been by way of. It sounds extraordinary, however I’ve heard it many occasions.”
Omar found out earlier this year that his asylum claim has been rejected. He has been granted the temporary right to remain in the UK for two years – but is unable to bring his family over.
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“I do know now that human rights are a giant lie,” he said. “Can anyone reside with out his household, his youngsters and spouse? It’s not simple. Sometimes I believe it could simply be higher for me to return to Syria, the place I might be executed.”
A spokesperson from the Home Office said: “We take the welfare of these in our care extraordinarily critically and at each stage within the asylum course of – from preliminary arrival, to any potential relocations – our strategy is to make sure that the wants and vulnerabilities of asylum seekers are recognized and thought of together with these associated to psychological well being and trauma.
“We are on track to clear the legacy asylum backlog by the end of 2023, which has reduced by more than 60% since the start of November 2022, down by over 59,000 cases.”
The legacy asylum backlog refers to claims made earlier than June 28, 2022, when the Nationality and Borders Act – which incorporates the Rwanda laws – was initially tabled.
While the speed of decision-making has improved for the legacy instances, the newest statistics additionally present the variety of more moderen claims proceed to extend – up 85,505 on the finish of September, from 66,176 within the final set of presidency figures launched on the finish of June.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can name Samaritans for assistance on 116 123 or e-mail [email protected] within the UK. In the US, name the Samaritans department in your space or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Source: information.sky.com”