They say they fear they will end up in the East African country. They have all recently arrived in the UK and know they are prime targets to get on a plane if the judges find the scheme legal because they traveled here on small boats and have only been in the UK for a few weeks. The Home Office has not published criteria for who will and who will not be selected for relocation to Rwanda, so everyone at the hotel believes they are at risk of being forced there. Abdullah (name changed), a 21-year-old Syrian, says: “In the hotel we all say ‘it’s better to kill ourselves than to go to Rwanda.’ A recent report by Medical Justice found that the threat of Rwanda increased the risk of suicide in those facing forced removal from there. The Independent reported on documents obtained by Liberty Investigates which showed the handful of asylum seekers brought on the plane for the first flight to Rwanda on June 14, which was eventually canceled due to legal action, self-harmed, threatened to kill themselves and were driven away. in ‘pain’ confinement after pleading not to be deported from the UK. Abdullah has had a bullet in his right thigh since Syrian government soldiers came to his family’s village and started shooting in 2014. He says he was unable to receive hospital treatment as all hospitals in his area were closed at the time due to war’s . He later fled to Turkey. “I couldn’t access any medical care there and there was a lot of racism against Syrians,” he says. He eventually contacted smugglers and asked them to take him to Europe. “They arranged for me to go by plane from Turkey to Libya. Smugglers choose the route. we have no choice.” Abdullah arrived in Libya on May 20 this year and left on July 30 when he escaped on an overcrowded boat to the island of Lampedusa. “I was forced to work for the traffickers in Libya,” he says. “I did farm work and washed their cars. I tried to escape several times before I succeeded. Until the last time, every time I was caught and beaten. Enslavement by traffickers in Libya was worse than life in Syria. The traffickers extinguished cigarettes and hookah coals on my body.” After years of walking around with a bullet in his leg, he finally tries to see a doctor. “That ball gives me trouble sitting up or trying to run,” she says. After his escape from Libya and four days in Lampedusa, he made his way to Calais. “We were living in tents in parks, but the police came and tore our tents down,” he says. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He paid smugglers £1,000 to cross from France to the UK in a small boat. “Prices have come down a lot,” he says. “It’s like the smugglers are having a sale right now.” It arrived here a few weeks ago. “I fear the past, the present and the future. I can’t take it anymore,” he says. The conversation returns to Rwanda. “Who do you think is more likely to support deportation to Rwanda if elected – Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak?” he asks. “If the court does not stop the deportations in Rwanda what should we do? Everyone in the hotel would rather die than go there.”
In the UK and Ireland, you can contact the Samaritans on 116 123 or email [email protected] or [email protected] In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. You can find other international helplines at befrienders.org.
