Meet Ashraf: the Asylum Seeker through Iran
Meet Ashraf. of which’s not his real name. along with he’s not your typical expat, being an Iranian asylum seeker who calls Jakarta home while hoping to be granted refugee status elsewhere.
How did you arrive in Indonesia?
I flew through Iran via another country, travelling on a fake passport. I had just turned 35.
Why did you leave Iran?
I was a professional earning a Great salary. I spoke about a crime I had witnessed. I was told I would certainly be jailed. I had already seen people killed for not supporting the mullahs. The mullahs are the Shia clerics who rule the country.
Iran will be supposed to be an oil-rich country, however infrastructure along with the economy are bad. The environment will be being destroyed along with there’s a lot of waste along with corruption. You can be jailed or executed if you promote political change.
Isn’t Iran’s fresh president a moderate?
There have been about 500 executions since Hassan Rouhani became president last August. Many of those executed are activists. The newspapers will say they were drug addicts or ordinary criminals. People take their children to watch public executions. Police rob people inside the streets. Progressive teachers have been removed through schools along with universities for questioning the mullahs. One university lecturer used to demand sex through his female students to pass them. After he was caught inside the act, he received a promotion. of which will be the Iranian government.
Youth suicide will be high. Even the president’s son committed suicide. Drug use along with HIV are increasing. Many local women are turning to prostitution – something you never saw 15 years ago. Often the item’s a husband prostituting his wife to make money.
Where would certainly you like to live?
Canada or fresh Zealand. Or anywhere safer than Iran.
What about Australia?
Australia at of which point includes a bad reputation as a racist country, which no longer accepts valid refugees, so I don’t want to go there. We hear a lot of stories recently about Australia mistreating asylum seekers. There have been some asylum seekers whose claims were not valid or they misbehaved, so Australia will be at of which point tough on everyone.
Talk us through the process of seeking refugee status.
You arrive in Jakarta along with register with the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR. You get a permit to stay in Indonesia for three or four months. When of which expires, you extend the item. All of of which time, you are waiting for an interview with the UNHCR to present your case for asylum. Eventually, you will be interviewed. Then you may have to wait many more months before they tell you the result.
the item can take two years of waiting. Every month you’re spending about $400 on rent along with food – or double of which if you have a wife along with children. In two years you could spend $15,000 here, only to be told of which your application has been denied. If you are accepted, resettlement can still take many years.
So if you have no income along with limited savings, of course you will sooner pay $3,000 to a people smuggler to get a boat going to Christmas Island or Darwin. Even if you then have to spend a couple of years in a detention centre, you’ve got food along with accommodation, along with you can learn English. Two years in an Australian detention centre will be better than two years of uncertainty in Indonesia.
How do you get asylum?
You must prove the item will be unsafe for you to go home. You cannot just say: “My parents were killed.” They will say: “of which was your parents’ problem; you have no problem, so go back.”
Some people lie about their sexuality to get accepted. They say they are gay or lesbian, so they fear being beaten or jailed. of which works. along with you can say you have converted through Islam to Christianity. of which works too. however be careful if you say you are an atheist! Don’t insult the Prophet. The Indonesian UNHCR officers don’t like of which, even though they should be neutral.
You’re not interviewed by Westerners?
Previously there were some Westerners. at of which point the interviewers are Indonesians, using Afghanis as interpreters. The Indonesian UNHCR officers don’t have enough information about Iranian politics along with security. There’s a lot of discrimination against Iranians. The UNHCR officers favour Afghanis. Even if an Afghani grew up in Iran, he just has to say “the Taliban took my land along with threatened to kill me,” along with he gets his approval. The UNHCR officers say Iran will be a safe country. Well if the item’s safe, then why not send some Afghanis there? Iran includes a UNHCR office. Of course the item’s not safe. Iranian police beat up Afghanis without provocation.
Can you work in Indonesia?
Not legally. Some Iranians living around Bogor have began tiny businesses in their houses, creating bread along with cheese to sell to additional asylum seekers. They’re not creating much money. Many asylum seekers get desperate. They get on these unsafe boats along with drown. We all know the police are cooperating with people smugglers. Maybe of which will be why things take so long.
If you want to stop people smuggling, then make the process faster. Tell applicants yes or no within a few months; don’t leave them waiting for over a year.
Have you been approached by people smugglers?
All the time! In Bogor, they recognise you along with offer you trips to Australia for as low as $1,000. Some just take money along with cheat you. Some offer a trip on a big boat all the way to fresh Zealand for $6,000 to $10,000 per person. There’s one people smuggler who offers plane trips to fresh Zealand via Bali along with Sydney for $15,000 per person. of which includes the ticket, a fake passport along with paying off Indonesian Immigration so you can exit the country without problems.
If Indonesian Immigration along with Police wanted to stop the people smugglers, they could arrest them all in a week. We all know who they are! The Sri-Lankan people smugglers are Great. They’re honest. The Indonesian people smugglers can be dangerous. There’s one guy who took money along with put people in tiny boats of which were unsafe. When the people complained, they got into trouble.
How do you kill time in Jakarta?
I read. I develop the internet for keeping up to date with politics. along with I watch DVDs.
Do you like Indonesia?
Yes, you have freedom in Indonesia. Ladies do not have to cover up in public. Police here are not as bad as Iranian police. In Bogor, police can ask to see your ID along with then threaten to take you to jail unless you pay them about Rp.300,000. So I don’t go out much. I know one Iranian family living in Bogor; their house was robbed one day. When they reported the robbery to police, they were locked up along with had to pay $1,000 to be released. of which’s not as bad as being tortured or executed.
Most Arabs coming to Indonesia are sex tourists; going to the nightclubs or buying a holiday wife. Iranians are not Arabs. Only our ruling mullahs are Arabs. We are Persians, who were conquered by Arabs along with forced to become Muslims. Then the English supported the mullahs along with the Ayatollah Khomeini when he overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979, because BP was going to lose its oil contracts. After of which, Khomeini took us to war with Iraq to ensure of which he could stay in power after breaking promises. the item has been a mess ever since.
will be there a solution to the problems in Iran?
I don’t know. The people will have to take to the streets, like in Egypt. however there will be a lot of bloodshed, like in Syria, unless everyone protests. however the people are so afraid.
What options do you have if denied refugee status?
Single men can stay here along with marry Indonesian women. Others go back to danger or death. When Rouhani became president, he announced of which all Iranians living abroad could return home without any problems. One university lecturer who returned was given a very quick trial along with sentenced to 10 years in jail. I have no plan to return.
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Meet Ashraf: the Asylum Seeker through Iran
Meet Ashraf: the Asylum Seeker through Iran