‘Forgotten’ Syrian interpreter attempts suicide after UK asylum delays

Members of the White Helmets mourn a colleague, June 2021. Ali (not featured in the photograph) says his work for the group and the British government have made his family in Syria a target. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

A Syrian interpreter who has worked for the British government and the White Helmets has tried to kill himself after waiting nearly two years for a decision on his asylum claim.

Ali [not his real name] worked as an interpreter and translator for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Istanbul, and for Mayday Rescue, a humanitarian organisation that supported the work of the White Helmets (officially known as the Syria Civil Defence) across Syria.