An elite Iranian cyclist, who claimed asylum in the UK after last year’s Glasgow World Championships, says the Bibby Stockholm barge would destroy his mental health and wellbeing if he is forced to Portland, Dorset by the Home Office.
Mohammad Ganjkhanlou told Cycling Weekly that his mind would be "broken" if he was forced to move to the barge housing asylum seekers, which Amnesty International called an "utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution".
Ganjkhanlou rode in the elite men’s time trial in Stirling last August and placed 66th behind the gold medal winner Remco Evenepoel of Belgium. He also achieved his country's best ever result in a World Championship road race when he finished above multiple current WorldTour professionals, coming in 23rd in the under-23 road race at the World Championships in 2016.
After he applied for asylum last year, he was placed in a hotel in Reading by the Home Office. Ganjkhanlou soon joined Reading Cycling Club and regularly competes in races in the local area, but has now been told that he will imminently be moved to the barge in Dorset, and be unable to take his bike on board.
"When I came to Reading I found the Reading Cycling Club, they welcomed me and we find races, we go to the races together," Ganjkhanlou said.
"I think Reading Cycling is like my family now," he added. "Here feels like home and my city now. I am feeling really good here. When I want to train I know where it is good to go, where the roads are quiet and safe.
"If I go there [Bibby Stockholm] it’s my mind that is broken. I just have my bike here, all the old things from my life are gone now. I haven’t seen my family for nine months, my wife for nine months, so now I just have my bike. When I train, my mind is ok, it keeps me positive and happy."
Home Office officials told The Guardian a fortnight ago that while he would not be allowed to take his bike on board or ride it in the port area, Ganjkhanlou would be allowed to store it at the port and ride it elsewhere.
Michael Gray, a friend of Ganjkhanlou’s and the race secretary at Reading Cycling Club explained that the 26-year-old is a valued member of the local community, and that the domestic scene has welcomed him with open arms.
"We give him lifts to races quite a lot with us," Gray said. "We chat to a lot of organisers and, most of the time, we get Mohammad a free entry as long as the rest of us sign on like normal. A lot of people are willing to help him out because he has literally no money at all.
"The guys at our local bike shop have been great too and help him maintain his bike and things like that which is so helpful."
"The thing with Mohammad is that he’s genuinely so good, so he needs to be on an out and out team," Gray added. "As a club we support him, but he needs a different kind of support. It’s really hard."
"He needs to be racing in a peloton, that’s his background," he explained. "He is part of the community here, we give him lifts, we give him club kit, there’s no guarantee he will have that there.
"If he goes to the Bibby, it will be a little bit like all of the help we have given him has gone to waste. If you’re in asylum, it’s already a lonely place so for him to be taken away from the relationships he has built here is cruel.
"This would destroy an athlete but more importantly destroy a person. He has such value to us here and a worth. It’s all in the Home Office’s hands now and is a waiting game for us all."
Emma Clark Lam, Ganjkhanlou’s case worker from the charity Care4Calais, told The Guardian earlier this month that she feared for his psychological wellbeing if he is moved to the barge.
"I do believe that Mohammad’s mental health would be gravely at risk if he were sent to live on the Bibby Stockholm barge. For an elite cyclist like Mohammad, the prospect of not being able to train with his local club or compete in races is unimaginable.
"We’re still hoping the Home Office will change their mind on this, but if they don’t, it would be a very cruel outcome for poor Mohammad."
Cycling Weekly contacted the Home Office for a response in relation to this story.
