Made Destitute in the UK – Deported and Killed in Sudan

Last week news broke that a Sudanese asylum seeker, who had been denied the right to remain and had been deported to Sudan, was killed in Dafur. The full tragic story can be read here

What this story illustrates is just how inhuman the UK home office decision making process is. Adam Osman Mohammed had fled Darfur, a war torn area, to seek sanctuary in the UK. Instead, as a refused asylum seeker, he was forced to live in destitution, and then returned to Sudan, where security officials murdered him in front of his wife and four year old child.

At Abigail Housing we know that all too often the home office’s decisions on who can stay and who must go can be both nonsensical and inhumane. All of the destitute asylum seekers we help cannot reasonably return to their countries of origin – so they are faced with a choice between living in destitution here in the UK or risking their lives by returning home. Adam Osaman Mohammed decided to risk returning home and lost his life as a result.

His other option would have to been to remain in the UK, unable to work and dependant on charity. This is the option many of residents of Abigail’s Destitution Project have chosen because they too fear violence or death if they return home. However, as one of Abigail’s residents says, destitution can also feel like a slow death - “I’m 21 and my life is over. What can I do? Where is the solution?” He can’t work or study. He can’t even attend English classes. He’s fallen into a deep depression.

So where is the solution? In the short term it is at places like Abigail Housing which provide for the basic human rights of asylum seekers in the UK. In the longer term it’s about a more efficient, human and realistic decision making process at the Home Office.