Asylum Seeker Attempts Suicide

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Asylum Seeker Attempts Suicide
27.5.2011
Words by Paul Fontaine
Photos by
An asylum seeker who fears for his life and started a hunger strike has now attempted suicide.

Mousa Sharif Al Jaradat, originally from the West Bank in Palestine, spoke briefly with the Grapevine a few days ago. He said that he has been in Iceland for about four months. Al Jaradat says that shortly after fleeing Palestine for Norway, he received death threats from Israeli secret service Mossad, and that he has a recording of one such threat that he received over the phone.

Despite the fact that the Directorate of Immigration has a copy of this recording, he was denied political asylum and told he would be deported back to Norway. In response, Al Jaradat decided to go on a hunger strike. Unfortunately, matters have taken a turn for the worse, as Róstur now reports that Al Jaradat has attempted suicide by cutting his wrists.

Al Jaradat told Róstur that he has also now decided to stop drinking water. He demands that Icelandic authorities grant him political asylum, and that he be allowed to move out of Fit Hostel in Keflavík (shown above). He says that he cannot continue living as he is, and that he would rather die than be deported.

Icelandic authorities have been in the spotlight in recent days over their handling of asylum seekers, in particular their violation of Dublin Regulation II, of which Iceland is a signatory, that requires countries to fully process asylum requests within one year. Despite this, Iranian Medhi Kavyanpoor has been waiting nearly seven years for an answer to his asylum request.