Subject: Ill Treatment and Long-Term Detention in Cyprus Speech during the public seminar “Detention and Deportation at Europe’s Borders: The Case of the Republic of Cyprus” Ali Asgari: The Testimony of a Former Detainee Date: Thursday, 26 September 2013 Location: Nicosia Speaker: Ali Asgari Good evening and greetings. Greetings to all good-hearted people. Greetings to the people who want to make some changes, and they want to make those changes in a good way that brings benefits to all humans, regardless of their nationality, religion and their skin color! I am named Ali, and I was born and raised in a place which people call it Persia or Iran. As an ex-detainee, specifically a multiple time ex-detainee in different detention centres of Cyprus, tonight I am going to take some minutes of your time to explain you what is happening to detainees in those detention centres, and specifically how detainees are being treated in Menoya detention centre. What I am going to say tonight is just a glimpse of what is really happening in different detention centres of Cyprus. And most of the times words are not a good medium to explain the real pain of the people who are suffering, but tonight words are the only tool that I can use, and I use it as much as I can. Let me start my talk like this. You know, when I escaped from Iran and came to Cyprus in October 2000, I did not come here because I believed Cyprus is technologically and culturally more advanced than Iran, or because Cyprus is a European Union member country. Because all of us know that in 2000, Cyprus was not a European Union member country, and certainly, Cyprus is not culturally and technologically more advanced than Iran. I came to this country, because I had two clear reasons in my mind. First, Cyprus is not a Muslim country. Second, UNHCR is in charge of handling asylum cases in this country. You may wonder why these two points were important for me. Well, I tell you why. As an apostate and as an atheist, I could not go to any neighbouring Muslim countries to Iran, and claim to the authorities of that country, that I believe your religion is fake, and I do not believe in your god, in your prophet and in your religion, and expect those people understand me, respect me, and leave me to live in peace in their country as an atheist asylum seeker, or as a possible refugee. By mentioning this, I am not saying that the authorities of Muslim countries are bad people. But I am saying that, those authorities cannot be unbiased in their decision makings for an atheist, when it comes to their religion, which they are so fond of it. This is the first reason, which made me decide to come to Cyprus. The second reason for my decision to come to Cyprus was that UNHCR is in charge of handling asylum cases in this country. Let me tell you why this reason was important for me too. Through experience, I know that in cases, which some kind of benefits or reputations are gained or lost, none of the parties that are responsible to handle that specific case, can be unbiased in their decision making to end that case, because each party wants to end the case in a way that brings more benefits of some kind, or more reputations to his party. The case of asylum seekers and refugees is one of those cases. Every country, which is facing this phenomenon, the authorities of that country, want to have less number of these people in their country. To achieve that goal, they use every stratagem that is possible to bring the number of these people down in their country. They use force and they use law to achieve their goal. And If they don’t have the law, they make the law to end that specific case to their benefit, and often times, they do it in an unfair manner! Cyprus is one of those countries. And I am one of those unfortunate asylum seekers which UNHCR left me in the hands of Cyprus authorities. I am in this country with my family since October 2000. And since then I have been arrested and detained four times. More than the number of times that I was in jail in Iran. In addition to that, one time my wife was arrested and detained for three months in January 2012. All the times that my wife and I were arrested, we had teen-aged children at home who were attending school at that period. My recent arrest and detention happened on 15 of March 2013, while I still had a pending case in Reviewing Authorities of Cyprus. In addition to that, I was the only breadwinner of the house, and I still had a 15-year-old boy at home who was attending school when they arrested me. In 2008, when I was in detention in three different police stations, all other Iranian detainees were in detention more than sixteen months up to three years and half. This year I was in detention two months. I spent 5 days in block 10, and the rest of my detention days I spent them in Menoya. Again all other Iranian detainees were already in detention from fourteen months up to twenty-three months. I am sure that long-term detention period is being used against all other rejected asylum seekers from other countries. I saw many of them in Menoya, and I cannot count all of them for you here. Some of them like me still had pending cases with the authorities. It is enough to say that they were from all around the world. From Africa to Asia. From Middle East to Russian federation countries. I saw three cases during my detention period in Menoya that those with long-term detention were in unstable mental situation. Two of them were from Iran, and one of them was from Afghanistan. Some detainees like me, start long period hunger strike to make authorities pay attention to their case. Immigration and migration representative who come to Menoya or any other detention centre, are mostly impolite towards detainees, and often mistreat the detainees who go under hunger strike. Mistreatment towards detainees has become a norm in Menoya by the guards. In cases when you see a mistreatment from a guard in detention centre, it is almost impossible to report the act of the guard to his superior officer, because none of the guards there have a name sticker or a rank number on their uniforms. Ignoring rightful demands of detainees, plus putting them under different mental tortures are the tools, which widely being used against unfortunate detainees in every detention centre of this country, and especially in Menoya. I have been in detention in five different places. Overall, there are five methods of torture they use against detainees and asylum seekers on this country. First, long-term and multiple times detention. They use long-term detention as a torturing tool to force detainees leave the country. There are many of these detainees in Menoya. Second, mistreatment towards detainees is a usual norm. They widely use it as a tool against detainees in every detention centre. In Menoya, detainees are being treated like common criminals, and are being despised because of being a rejected asylum seeker on this country. Third, mobile phones. Preventing detainees from communicating with their family members, friends or their lawyers by their mobile phones is being used as a tool to torture detainees in detention centres. In 2008 they used this against me to force me stop my hunger strike. When I insisted to have my mobile phone, I was beaten by a guard for that. In Menoya, they specifically installed a signal-blocking device for this purpose. Forth, Food torture. Food is being used as a torturing tool. In Menoya food is absolutely horrible in terms of quality, taste and amount. Every time somebody complains about the food, the answer is “you are not in a hotel, so shut up and eat what is given to you”. The food is also unhealthy. While I was there, two times dead worms and insects were found inside the food of other detainees. We presented them to the guards head shift, but we only received a “sorry, I am not a cook” phrase from him. And the last, not least is after detention torture. Every time a detainee is released from detention, they practically leave him or her in the street without any kind of paper that legalizes his or her situation; this happened to my wife and me every time they released me from detention. Even now, my family and I are suffering because of this. On this last method, the authorities work as a team. The government does not provide legal papers, labour office does not register asylum seekers in the job seekers list, and the welfare does not provide financial help to asylum seekers such as me. And asylum seeker are doomed. Mission accomplished. I hope by this talk, I have been able to create an image in your mind of what is happening to detainees and asylum seekers, and how they are suffering on this country. They are just ordinary human beings who trusted this country and took refuge in it. They are not criminals! So don’t treat them like criminals! Thank you for listening. youtube/watch?v=AhDxz_7EKCg&list=UU9QtWcTzJkCuLscRuw6whVw
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 20:31:06 +0000