No farm work for these ‘asylum seekers’ or they will kill themselves!
Sheesh, do you believe this one! From Cyprus Mail (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):
AS THEY enter day 52 of their hunger strike and the fourth day without water, Iranian political refugees who are camped outside the Interior Ministry asking to be granted citizenship or residency, warn that they won’t back down.
All the petitioners are political refugees, having fled their countries out of fear for their lives and that of their family members.
“I’d rather die here than give up. We can’t live like that anymore”, one of the strikers told the Cyprus Mail, pointing out that they just want what they are entitled to by international law. “We are recognised political refugees. We fled our countries, some of us over ten years ago. We have been trying to get long term residency status or citizenship for years, so we can move legally to other European countries. We have friends and family in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and other countries. Some of us just want to leave, not stay here. We don’t want money. We are qualified, we want to work and contribute”, he said.
The four hunger strikers are Muhammad Altaf and Asadollah Panahimehr, who have been camped out at the Ministry of Interior for over a month, and friend Salah Chanim who joined them recently. [I guess they aren’t Christian Iranians.—ed]
Surprise (NOT!) They got the attention of the UNHCR which expressed sympathy for the extortionists!
The strikers were visited yesterday by Damtew Dessalegne, representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who expressed his sympathy and support for their cause.
No farm work for me said Muhammad Altaf:
The minister also commented on the fact that one of the refugees, who has been out of work for three years, hasn’t registered with the unemployment office. Hasikos claims that the man refuses to register because the office won’t find him a job fitting his qualifications. “The Interior ministry cannot ensure that anyone, local or immigrant, would be given a job according to his qualifications”, he remarked.
The man in question, Altaf, is a software engineer and said he was told he could only work on farms.
Check out the comments! Several suggest they don’t look like they are starving. One suggests they go back to Iran and fight to save their country from the fanatics. Here is a good one from ‘Almostbroke’ wanting answers to some questions:
Did they arrive at immigration at the airport ? Did they present documentation? Did they comply with the Dublin Convention ! or are they like a lot of other so called refugees ,egged on by self appointed NGOs like KISA, to ´make it up as they go along´as usual ! Flout a countries immigration laws and then expect specialist treatment, its happening in every EU country where there are generous Social Welfare benefits.
Let’s see, farm work? or kill myself? farm work? or kill myself? What would a logical and legitimate refugee choose?