An asylum seeker has opened up about the conditions during his time at the notorious Manston processing centre. Ahmed, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, spent 25 days at the Kent facility which attracted negative headlines last year amid claims of overcrowding and outbreak of disease.
Ahmed was among thousands of people who have passed through the centre and described his time there as the "worst days" of his life. He said he experienced "hunger, humiliation and illness" during his stay and claimed he was denied basic human rights.
Heavy condemnation was directed towards the site last year as reports of overcrowding and cases of diphtheria and scabies came to light. It was reported at one point that around 4,000 people were being held at the site, which was designed for a capacity of 1,600.
Ahmed, who fled Sudan, told KentLive: “We arrived in October, we were in Manston for 25 days, these were the worst days of my life. Back home, in spite of the fact that my life was threatened yet I still had these rights, I wished I would have had some rights when arriving here in the UK, but I didn’t have these basic human rights.”
He claims employees were responsible for their mistreatment. “They were employed there. People from immigration we didn’t see them, they didn’t have to interact with us as much. They were not as bad. They will only turn up in a case of emergency,” he said.
Ahmed recalls a time when a fellow refugee at Manston caught COVID and was left with the rest of the group. “So when the national, and international human rights organisations were made of us, there were helicopters flying trying to find us because they couldn’t locate us," he added.
“We were there when there were outbreaks of illnesses. Towards the end of that time, the media was made aware, so they would start to remove some of the new people and they would remove four or five people who were there for a long time just to prove to the media ‘ look, we’re releasing some of the people who’ve been there’ but the majority were the people who had arrived there recently.”
He added: “There were four people who had COVID with us. The gentleman who was right next to me had COVID And when we reported that, all they did was just give him Ibuprofen. He was there for four days with just Ibuprofen and then they took him. We were exposed to any infection at any time. The symptoms were obvious including fever. They took him to the hospital and 10 days afterwards we were transferred.”
Large tents at the facility had been set up to cope with the overcrowding situation. Ahmed said some of the asylum seekers tried to escape.
“I saw 60 people attempting to escape from the tents, and some people attempted to try to cut their own veins because they reached that level. I can’t describe the treatment. We didn’t have access to showers, we couldn’t pray for 25 days or change our outfits. We only managed to change our outfits two days before we left."
He claimed at least four people attempted suicide in November which were "witnessed by staff". Ahmed and other asylum seekers were transferred to a hotel in Heathrow for a few days before being moved to another hotel in Sussex where they still remain. “In Heathrow, these were the best days, there were more services, we managed to have some rest and then they started transferring people from Heathrow to hotels.
“We feel like we’re just a box of biscuits. You don’t know where you’re going next. All of the sudden they take you to Heathrow, then they bring you here (Sussex), and we have accepted this is our reality. We’re not objecting but we’re looking forward to our time being filled up with something useful.”
A Home Office spokesperson told KentLive: “The Home Office takes the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously. Significant improvements have been made to facilities at Manston in recent months and the site remains well-resourced for future arrivals. We provide for all the basic needs of people who will have arrived tired, cold, in wet clothing and who may not have eaten during their journey. This also includes 24/7 medical assistance for those who require it.”
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