KABUL (SW): In conversation with Salam Watandar, Basit, one of the young Afghans recently deported by Norway, said he has not been treated well and he fears for his life in Afghanistan.
17-year-old Basit said he was just 16 when he risked his life to reach Norway. He said within two weeks of his arrival in Norway, the Norwegian authorities inspected his teeth and bones to determine his age. Basit said he was pronounced older and his asylum application was rejected. He was then kept at a camp with people older than him.
After spending almost a year in Europe, the teenager now believes his thoughts about that part of the world were misguided. Basit said Europe is not the place for him to live in.
Narrating the ordeal, he said he and a number of other rejected asylum seekers were rounded-up by the Norway police at around 5 am in the morning, and sent to prison. In 24 hours, a court convicted him for lying to the government of Norway, and gave the ruling to deport him, claiming that Afghanistan is ‘safe’. He added that his stay in prison was awful as the security guards there kept him under their watchful eyes round the clock, even in toilet where close circuit cameras were installed.
The rejected Afghan asylum seeker said the government of Norway did not give him a second chance. He added he was deported with only one minus point while legally he could have applied again and again till minus three points. Basit was kept in a prison in Oslo for a month before being deported to Kabul.
Blaming the Afghan government, the dejected young boy said rulers do not care for the people, and that is why they accepted the European governments’ move to deport Afghans. He blamed the government for not doing anything to secure the lives of the people and provide them jobs.
Basit lost his father long time ago. He is too afraid to travel to his native Ghazni province to meet and inform his mother about what he went through. It has been a month since Basit has been deported from Norway. With the aid package provided to him by the Oslo government, Basit has rented an apartment in Kabul. He, however, is worried for his life once the aid money finishes.
ENDS
