Forced to step on the floor of the plane, with his knee to his head, Zoran was told he would be taken to Rwanda, no matter what. The 25-year-old Kurd, strapped to his seat belt, was one of the few asylum seekers to be taken to the controversial deportation flight before being detained at the last minute after European judges intervened on Tuesday night.
“I had a feeling I was going to die,” says Zoran. “I felt like nothing I had ever been through before.” He says he begged the guards not to force him to board the plane. In the audio recording of a phone call he made with a friend, Zoran is heard screaming in pain. He says others were shouting.
“The officers told me that if you tried to run away or run away, your situation would only get worse,” said Zoran, who arrived in Britain by boat 40 days ago after fleeing political persecution.
“I told them I didn’t want to go there, but I had a belt on my stomach and I was handcuffed. If I return to Iran, the government will kill me.
The plane’s landing was the end of days of political and legal drama, order after order issued to 37 asylum seekers, meaning they would not be part of a flight to East Africa under the prime minister’s plan to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel until United Kingdom.
But for the men who were due to fly from Boscombe Down, near Salisbury, it was the culmination of a day filled with uncertainty, trauma and horror – and only a brief moment of rest before ministers raised the threat of deportation to Rwanda again. .
“What crime have I committed to be treated like this?”
It was around 2.30pm on Tuesday when officers knocked on the door of Mohammed’s cell at the relocation center in Colebrook, near Heathrow, and told him they were taking him to Rwanda, a moment he hoped would never happen.
“They used their mobile phone for translation,” said the Iranian Kurd. “They asked me, ‘Do you need a belt?’ I wrote, ‘No, I want to live among you, why should I try to hurt you?’
“It simply came to our notice then. I never saw anyone else until I was on the plane. “
The 45-year-old arrived in Britain last month after fleeing religious persecution, but is still worried about the safety of his wife and daughters, who remain in Iran. A moment before the knock on his cell, he talks to his wife.
“It was as if we were saying goodbye for the last time. It was very painful, “he said.
Mohammed was taken out of the escort van relocation center, where he said he was joined by five police officers – two in the front and three with him in the back of the vehicle.
“I had the feeling that I would be executed,” he said of the 90-minute trip to the military test site.
Upon arrival, he said he was kept in the van for hours, with a camera recording his every move. “I was just sitting there,” he says. “I didn’t even have permission to breathe fresh air unless I wanted to go to the bathroom.
“I was really puzzled. I thought, “What crime did I commit to be treated like this?” It was very humiliating.
“I finally felt safe”
As Muhammad sat in a van waiting for his fate, other men were also pulled out of their cells. Taha, 36, said that when officers came to the detention center, he was so frightened that he fainted.
“I couldn’t breathe, so I had to be taken out of custody on a stretcher,” he said. “I also couldn’t do anything because they used handcuffs.
The father of four, who landed on British shores on May 17 after fleeing Iraqi Kurdistan, said he had received news that he would not have to board the flight shortly before 10 p.m.
“I am asking the UK government to take me out of this detention center because I feel terrible,” he said from his cell. “I would rather choose death than be taken to Rwanda.”
Rasul, a 25-year-old Iraqi Kurd, said he felt suicidal when security forces arrived at the airport at about 5 p.m.
“You can’t compare it to death, death is better. “I never imagined that this would happen to me, that they would take me to another country, so far from everything I know,” he recalled.
“I finally felt safe when I arrived in the United Kingdom on May 23, I knew it was a democracy and now I know it’s a lie.
He said he initially refused to leave the detention center and go to the airport, but was tasked by security forces.
“They said they would take me by force if I didn’t come. Then three policemen attacked me, pulling my arms and neck. I was told that if I made a move or tried to escape, they would detain me, tie me up. It reminded me of traffickers, “he said.
The Ministry of the Interior says that physical force and restraint should only be used after a risk assessment and that it reviews all uses of force to ensure that it is proportionate and justified, adding: “Our staff and escort providers are strictly trained to ensure the safety of returnees throughout the removal process. “
At around 7.30 pm, Rasul received a call from his lawyer and told him that he had been banned and his ticket revoked, but the police did not believe him, so he had to sit and wait for several more hours.
“At around 9.45 pm – at the last moment when we were ready to board the plane – one of them came to me and said that my flight had been canceled. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I didn’t want to look back”
Shortly before that, around 9.20 pm, Mohammed was the first asylum seeker to be brought to the plane. As he approached the plane, escort officers surrounded him; one on both sides and one at the back. They were among many more security guards involved in the operation.
He says: “There were so many other people. They had yellow fluorescent vests. I felt like a spectator watching.
“I didn’t want to look back, but I could hear other people resisting and shouting. I heard a man say, “My hand hurts! Let me go!'”
After all the deportees were on board, along with dozens of escorts and security personnel, they waited for about 40 minutes with the engine running, according to Mohammed.
“There were guards on both sides of the plane. The lines behind and in front of me were empty. I couldn’t talk to any of the others, “he said. “Two others from the plan were still quite worried. I knew one of them.
“At that moment, I could do nothing for them but pray and pray that they would be strong and calm.”
Shortly before 10 pm, the fateful moment came: a flight attendant announced that he would not take off.
“Some of the guards and others were really happy. They hugged us. They greeted us, “said Mohammed. “It was clear that they were just trying to carry out orders. It wasn’t something that even they were comfortable with. “
He described a mixture of emotions going through him as he got off the plane: “I felt happy and relieved. I was also still not sure what the future held.
Priti Patel addresses the Municipalities on Wednesday
(via Reuters)
“We could not share our feelings with each other. Each of us felt it alone. I really wanted to hug the others, but I couldn’t. “
Forcing people to board the plane is tantamount to “pure torture,” according to Karen Doyle of the Justice Movement, which has been in contact with some asylum seekers.
She says: “This is a cycle of injuries in addition to the injuries for already injured people who have risked everything, who have struggled through many obstacles and barriers to reach the United Kingdom.
Within hours of the failed deportation attempt, Priti Patel promised to continue with the controversial plan. “We believe that we are fully complying with our domestic and international obligations and that preparations for our future flights and future flights have already begun,” she told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Mohammed says: “This policy is very self-centered. We were guinea pigs, but fortunately it didn’t work out.
“I cannot say that I am not worried that I am still being sent to Rwanda, but I hope that the support we have received will mean that this will not happen.
Names have been changed to protect your identity
Additional reports by Barzan Jaber
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