Semira, Glasgow

Semira Abdullah came to the UK with her son Yasser from Kurdistan in October 2000. She is Kurdish, but moved to Mosel when she was three years old. Both she and her husband were involved in the Communist movement in Iraq.

In 1994, Semira's husband and brother-in-law were arrested by Saddam's intelligence service. They have not been seen since. Afraid for herself and her family, she fled to Kurdistan. Suffering further intimidation from Islamic extremists in Kurdistan, she paid a smuggler to get her and her son out of the country, leaving six adult children behind. She was smuggled to Turkey in a truck, where she telephoned relatives in Mosel to discover that two of her brothers had been arrested, tortured and subsequently died. She then paid US$10,000 to be smuggled somewhere else, and three days later found herself in Dover.

From Dover, Semira was sent directly to Glasgow. After two years she was finally interviewed by the Home Office and received her first refusal, which she appealed, based on the fact that the interpreter provided did not speak Semira's Kurdish dialect. The appeal was refused and the case was closed. She has been in Glasgow for over five years now, and has received two notices of removal. Her benefits were stopped in February 2005, since which time she has survived with the help of friends. Despite the fact that Kurdistan is now deemed to be a safe area, no attempt to send her back has been attempted, and she remains in the flat in which she was housed in 2000.