UK tells Syrian asylum seeker ‘safe’ to return home

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel makes a statement in the House of Commons in London. (File/AFP/UK Parliament)

• The Home Office sent the Syrian asylum seeker a refusal letter in December
• His lawyers are now appealing the government’s unprecedented decision

LONDON: A Syrian refugee seeking asylum in Britain has been told by the UK Home Office that he is safe to return to his war-torn country, The Guardian reported on Sunday.
The 25-year-old refugee sought sanctuary in the UK in May 2020 after fleeing mandatory enlistment into Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army in 2017. “He said that if he is forced back to Syria, he will be targeted as a draft evader, arrested, detained and killed,” the newspaper reported.
It would be the first time that the UK returns a refugee to Syria, which the UN Refugee Agency said in October was still “unsafe.”
The agency reiterated an appeal from Human Rights Watch that “all countries should protect Syrians from being returned to face violence and torture, and halt any forced returns to Syria.”
A refusal letter sent to the asylum seeker by the Home Office last month said: “I am not satisfied to a reasonable degree of likelihood that you have a well-founded fear of persecution.
“It is not accepted that you will face a risk of persecution or real risk of serious harm on return to the Syrian Arab Republic due to your imputed political opinion as a draft evader.”
His lawyers are now appealing the Home Office’s unprecedented decision.
The asylum seeker, who has not been named for his own protection, said: “I escaped from Syria in 2017 and I am looking for safety.
“I hope I will not be forced back to Syria. I am so tired of trying to find somewhere that I can be safe.”