A Sudanese refugee facing deportation to Rwanda says all asylum seekers can contribute to Britain and should be treated like Mo Farah “despite not having gold medals”.
Abdullah, 26 – not his real name – was kidnapped and tortured in Libya after fleeing Sudan when his tribe was threatened with slaughter.
On his escape to Europe crossing the Mediterranean on a rubber dinghy, he saw a mother and child fall into the sea and drown on the perilous journey.
But because he arrived illegally in the UK later than January, hoping to claim asylum, Abdullah now faces deportation to Rwanda under the Government’s controversial new scheme.
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Olympic hero Sir Mo, who took Gold in the 10,000m and 5,000m in both 2012 and 2016, revealed this week that he was born Hussein Abdi Kahin and had been trafficked into England aged nine. The Home Office announced it will not take action against him.
Talking to the Sunday Mirror in a café in London, Abdullah said: “The Mo Farah case shows the discrimination of refugees by British authorities and their double standards. He was a refugee and I am a refugee – what is the difference? It’s unacceptable and unfair that I face deportation, despite everything I’ve been through, just because I don’t have Olympic medals.
“Mo is an example of what refugees can do and why the UK should embrace us. We can all contribute to this country.”
The Government has put its Rwanda deportations on hold until September as it awaits a court hearing and the result of the Conservative leadership contest.
Abdullah, staying in a hotel in London along with dozens of other refugees, says he will kill himself if he is served with deportation papers to Rwanda.
Calling the ongoing delay “psychological torture”, he said: “This is a very dangerous plan and extremely harsh.
“I feel psychologically and mentally affected. It’s an extremely dangerous thing to do to send people back to Africa.
“I’ve spent three and a half years trying to get here and I’d rather kill myself than go back to Africa, where nothing is guaranteed. I’ve been on an awful journey to get here – thinking I was finally in a safe place.”
Abdullah is terrified he will not be granted asylum or security in Rwanda, like thousands of refugees sent there by Israel between 2013 and 2018.
Deportees under that scheme became victims of human trafficking, incarceration, rape and torture.
He said: “I was shocked at the plan to send refugees to Rwanda. I feel I’ve been sent backwards 5,000 steps.”
Abdullah, a labourer back home, came to the UK in March on a lorry from Calais, where he had spent three months in horrific conditions and says he was “cold and hungry most of the time”.
He saw fellow refugees killed by cars and lorries while trying to escape. He had left Sudan in 2019 due to tribal clashes, with threats to his life and his family’s safety.
But after crossing into Libya, he was kidnapped and tortured.
Six months later he fled on a rubber dinghy with some 150 other refugees.
Showing scars he got in Libya, he said: “I was badly tortured. We managed to make the journey to Italy on a
rubber boat. It was terrifying. A lady and a child died.”
Abdullah is one of dozens being helped by refugee charity Care4Calais in a legal bid to stop the deportations.
Lawyers will present the claims of 12 of them to the Royal Courts of Justice, hoping to have the plan ruled unlawful.
Abdullah says the delay until at least September has made him hopeful again but it is “prolonging my agony”.
The policy has been criticised by politicians, refugee organisations, the Church of England and even Prince Charles, with some pointing to Rwanda’s human rights record.
Care4Calais said: “The plan is brutal. Refugees who suffered war, torture and persecution will be faced with immense trauma and an unknown future.
“It will cause fear, anguish and distress.”
