The Iraqi refugees continue their sit-in and proceed to hunger strike

Families holding American cards and waiting for the suspended travel date!

Maha Zraquett ========

*This article published in Arabic Lebanese newspaper almustaqbal

The Iraqi refugees who obtained resettlement cards in the United States of America are continuing their sit-in for the fourth day in a row in front of the UNHCR, objecting for don't proceed with their travel to America even though more than a year has passed since they were accepted as citizens. This exposes them to the danger of arrest by the Lebanese authorities and deportation back to their original countries. This is in addition to the humanitarian and economic sufferance they have had to endure due to their illegal existence in Lebanon.

The strikers are demanding to determine a specific date for their travel to America or notify them by the Americans refusal to accept them now so they'll be able to seek refuge in another country, maybe Canada and Australia or another place. An American lawyer of Iraqi origins (Maha Keny) handles the negotiation with the refugees, she has tried more than once to convince them of the worthlessness of continuing with their sit-in which is expected to

 escalates next Monday by declaring a hunger strike and the refugees are preparing adhesive tapes and threads to muzzle their mouths.

The Iraqis are sitting-in inside the garage of the UNHCR, where the Lebanese security forces aren't permitted to enter to arrest any one in spite of the attempts to push them to sit-in outside the office [the garage] because of the annoyance caused to the neighbors.

On the fourth day of the sit-in plenty of media people came to witness the event and the refugees were able to explain their reasons for the protest. But the scene in front of the UNHCR’s office didn’t differ from any day of the year: Hundreds of foreigners [refugees] waiting for any employee going out from inside the office to notify them about the date for a meeting they had asked for before 3 months or 6 or one year and maybe more. Meeting and maybe another and then a card declaring their status as refugees waiting for resettlement in another country, but it [the card] doesn’t protect them from the accusation by the Lebanese Authorities of entering Lebanon illegally.

Iraqis called for the sit-in, but the complaints from all nationalities were one, especially the Sudanese who ran away from the south of Sudan, then other nationalities like Afghanistan and Algeria and the stories are similar: Children without schools, arrests & prisons & tortures, violations for human rights and fear of deportation to the original country where only prison, degradation and execution are waiting for them.

And unusually, all the refugees were ready to speak about their situation, this is strange as it would be normal for them to say nothing about themselves and even be afraid to give their names 9*. It started with the Iraqis who had resettlement cards for the USA , 440 persons, 65 of them traveled in August most of them were Christians and Kurdish while the date for the rest hadn't been made despite they had been accepted for more than one year.

The responsible in the UNHCR office ascribed the reason to the 11 of September attacks and the American laws that were issued in the aftermath, but that didn’t convince the Iraqis who saw their fellow citizens travel two months before. Another reason told by one of them was “when we met the agent from American defense ministry, he took from the 440 people detailed information from each of us about what we faced in Iraq and about our situations, and after they accepted us selected whom they wanted and they left the rest of us”

The lawyer Maha Keny who negotiated with the strikers, UNHCR office and the American embassy affirms that she can't do anything about the matter, said "I wasn't wait for your strike to move, when the embassy celebrated the independence day which cost thousands of dollars, I took the matter and fruitlessly headed for the manager of the office to tell him about the expensive of the ceremony". And Keny swore: "in spite of our Iraqi blood your case will not be solved while you're here and perhaps it will reflect negatively on you". But every body insisted on the strike since it couldn't be more negative than what they are suffering now.

Mahir Almosawy (born in Alnajaf Iraq 1974) Narrate his suffering as a refugee since 1999: "I gained a refugee card from the commission but I have been arrested by security forces and jailed for one month in Batron jail, after I finished my sentence I was moved to the general security prison and I stayed for one year and 3 months there because I didn't accept deportation to Iraq". "After I left the prison I returned to the commission before my travel as an American citizen, the date was 4 of September 2001. I was involved in a traffic accident and had to be carried to the Alrasul Ala'tham hospital for treatment. The council of churches wouldn't agree to my surgery there so I was moved to the Daher Albashiq a government hospital where I got the surgery I needed and I was arrested 10* under accusation of entering clandestinely and I stayed in jail until after the date of my travel despite the 2 visits from the agent of the commission in Romyah prison, she had assured me that she would work to release me before the travel date". Mahir didn't get out of Romyah prison to go to the airport like he expected "I got deported with another 300 Iraqi refugees to the north of Iraq where we were delivered to the Iraqi authorities, I ran away again after I got shot in my leg and returned back to Lebanon". "And I'm still waiting for my travel date with continuous fear of arrest because this time they'll not show me any mercy".

The story of Majed doesn't differ, whom had been jailed for one year and two months instead of one month which was supposed to be the term of his sentence until he was forced to agree to his deportation to Iraq, then he ran away again and returned to Lebanon, changing his mothers name so he wouldn’t suffer more if he is arrested again, he explained that he is wanted because he has submitted so many complaints to human rights organizations about what he has faced in Iraq and Lebanese prisons.

And Thieban Kathen Arab narrated his story and again he delivered it written on paper, he was a refugee in Lebanon since 1991 and he gained a refugees card in 1995 with his wife and his ten children who have been deprived of schools and Thieban hasn’t gained acceptance in any country of resettlement because his family was too big.

As to Abd Alkariem Sahib with his three children, he gained an agreement for travel to Australia but he was told to provide a certificate from the palace of justice declaring that he hasn't any criminal record and that is hard, "because my card is currently out of date [incompetence] since March and I don't know what I can do?".

And an Iraqi officer (he showed his card with a signature from the internal ministry) narrates his story as a refugee wondering about what it is possible to do to solve their suspended problems.

The suffering of the refugees doesn't differ from other nationalities that are displaying their own similar problems as well as their own special situations for each of them. One who is married to a Lebanese wife, can't have a card for his wife or for his children who were born in Lebanon and they stuck here without identities or anything to say who they are except a paper from the hospital where they born.

One of the waiting [refugee] abbreviates the matter with a question: "why did they opened this office if they're not able to protect us, and if the cards that they give us are not recognized by the Lebanese government?".

They also were sure that deportation of some Iraqis to Iraq was the cause of their execution, the last one was a young man called Hamed Dawad.

The security forces arrested around six o'clock the Iraqis refugees Ahmad Salman and Fa'eq Alazary after they had been called to leave the commissioner's office. The eye witness explained that the security forces accompanied Salman and Alazary to the office of the commissioner director before they took them in a jeep and two cars to Alsham street squad office where they're under investigation.