Zahir, 25, who did not want to be named, left Iraq two months ago. He said his life was in danger after he had a fight with a member of his family who had ties to the government and had threatened to kill him. His 3,500-mile journey through Turkey and Europe took about a month, mostly traveling in the back of a truck on a journey organized by human traffickers. He spent another nine days in Calais before boarding a weak boat to reach the UK, reaching shore on May 23 this year. Less than a month after he set foot on the beaches of Dover, he was told by British officials that he and a traveling friend would be on the first flight to Rwanda on Tuesday. Speaking to Sky News by telephone from Colnbrook House Detention Center near Heathrow, he said: “I was told you were going to Rwanda tomorrow. But we say, ‘Why go to Rwanda tomorrow?’ “We are very, very nervous, we are very, very unhappy. We do not know what to do. We do not know why we are here.” The opportunities for a legal challenge are dwindling and it seems increasingly likely that Zahir will fly 6,000 miles to another continent and into a very uncertain future. He says “I can not eat or sleep, nothing. We do not want to go to Rwanda. The Interior Ministry, they just asked” why are you leaving Iraq? Why do you want to apply for asylum? “And I just say” my life is in danger “. Read more: The first flight carrying asylum seekers to the African country could go ahead, says Court of Appeals What is it like to be a refugee in Rwanda? Why are migrants being sent to Rwanda and how will it work? “They say ‘OK’ and give us a ticket to say that your case (was rejected). And they give us a ticket, a departure to Rwanda. They did not ask another question about what happened or why, with whom.” At a similar detention center, Brook House in Gatwick, Sayed (not his real name) and his friend managed to postpone their deportation to Rwanda. Both are from Afghanistan. Sayed left in 2018 and Abdul’s friend fled last year as the Taliban took control of the country. Abdul claims to have been caught in an explosion and is still in pain from the injury. “The Taliban tried to kill him,” said Sayed, speaking by telephone at the detention center. “He was hit by a bomb. He is still suffering. He has a lot of pain in his head, arm, body. He always goes to the doctor and takes pills.” Sayed first came to the UK at the age of 15 in 2008, then went to France and was arrested returning to a boat earlier this year. He paid the traffickers £ 1,900 to get behind the Channel. He has a family in Birmingham and hopes he can get along with them. He says both he and Abdul would rather die than be deported to Rwanda. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:41 Judges reject offer to suspend immigrant flight to Rwanda “We are going to commit suicide. It is very difficult for us, you know. We left our country and now we are being sent to Rwanda. That is not right. We want our rights in the UK. I have never heard of Rwanda in my life.” Sayed and Abdul have little to do but wait. Behind the barbed wire at Brook House, inmates can see a glimpse of planes fluttering in the runway of Gatwick Airport, just across the street. None of them knows for sure if they will soon be on a plane bound for Africa. If they do, it is not because they do not have the right to seek asylum in the UK, but because they came to the UK paying traffickers to cross the Channel by boat, and the government believes this policy will deter others from doing so. The government said it was expecting legal challenges, but by the time it was written, the first flight to Rwanda was still scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
