Afshin Azizian 14 years of asylum seeking in UK

My story begins in my native Iran. The third child born of eleven brothers and sisters. Ours is a nomadic tribe called Bakhtiari. My formative years being spent in the mountains rather than the cities. The biggest part of my story takes place in the UK where fourteen years ago I came as an asylum seeker taking refuge from the current Iranian regime. Some of my experiences may shock you some you may not even believe. Yet however bitter sweet the journey I believe my story worth telling. The human spirit is extraordinary and she has been my guide my muse and my most treasured friend. I hope one day to return to Iran and be reunited with my family and friends. I grew up with an innate sense of justice and fairness, constantly uneasy and at odds with the oppressive Islamic regime in Iran, both in my schooling and in the wider society. I was expelled from school when I was 17 years old and was banned from every high school in the region because of my political activities. Despite this I became a professional footballer and ran my own clothing business. As I grew older I became more actively involved in the movement for democracy against the fundamentalist regime. But unfortunately my political activism against the barbaric rule led me to prison, torture, and finally to the point that I had to flee for my life. After a very stressful and frightening journey, I arrived in Britain in November 1995 and applied for asylum. Life was very different. Little information of the outside world had penetrated Iran and I found the culture very shocking. I spoke no English and felt completely isolated. I spent months in a detention centre unable to understand what was happening to me. I was suddenly released with no information or guidance as to what to do next. Five years passed with no decision from the Home Office. In this time I managed to learn the language, find a job and make a life and a home for myself in London . Between 1997 and 1998 I undertook and completed an ESOL elementary certificate at North West College , Kilburn. In 1998 I began a National Diploma in Business and Finance at Kingsway College , Kings Cross. I completed a year of this three year programme, however, after receiving an unconditional offer to study for a BSc degree in Computer Science and Maths I transferred to North London University (now Metropolitan University ). Unfortunately after only two weeks my asylum application was refused and under UK law I had to withdraw from the programme. My hopes were shattered as the Home Office refused my case and my studies were taken away from me. I was told I was not allowed to work any more and I was not entitled to any help from the government. I was told that I would be deported back to Iran where I would face capital punishment because of my political beliefs and my religion -- I am a Christian.I spent nearly 6 years in destitution. I did not know anything about homelessness and I had no idea how to feed myself. Sleeping rough, moving from place to place. I remember the nights that I spent on a launderette floor. Cold nights the owner used to lock the door from 8 pm to 8 am. ... - this is only the beginning

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• afshin
• azizian
• asylum
• seeking
• UK
• 14
• years

[TheZibatarinMoosighi]

Bravo Afshin jan ..so proud that you never give up !!love love and respect.

[ThisBoyTV]

We can learn a lot about ourselves from Afshin. The people of the UK should put him on a speaking tour. Great to hear a voice of sanity.

[theshirzadegan1]

BA DORUD!

 afshin jan (sogand be yazdan) every one of us ,have a story of madness ,sadness far from our love one & but that is a MAN life in our countries and centure & sham ,sham,sham, 21 century for west ,super powers ,human ,wild government / we have to FIGHT this way or other ......be strang & have hope.....hamid.

[Iranshah1]

Doroud Bar Afshin,ji - Down with the terrorist occupayer, regime of isLam, and there supporter's lick, england, usa, russia, china _ Long Live Iran & Iraniyan.

[hmt111]

Brutal tyrant & foreign puppet Ali Khamenei is traitor to Iranians, anyone collaborating with this criminal rapist mass-murderer will pay for his crime in near future after overthrow of this Neocolonial regime in Iran, the puppet of 5+1 countries. IRI is a protectorate of 5+1 & Crude-Oil-Consortium. These traitors have solde the country to foreign powers of 5+1, who have been using Fake Nuclear Issue & daily diversion propaganda on VOA, BBC, Radio Farda, radio Israel, to prop-up their puppets.

[XxPersianBarbiexX]

i cant watch this because my internet doenst load what's he saying?

[EncompassedRunner]

Afshin is very well-spoken.  God bless him.

I wonder why more Iranians have not tried to seek asylum with Israel, since Israel has a long tradition of treating strangers well, since the Jewish religion reminds them to remember their days as strangers in Egypt.

[Roman45873]

Bardzo Ciekawy film .

Nie chce sie wierzyc ze tak bylo .

Roman

[TheZibatarinMoosighi]

@hefeltbad Of course this situation has been made from the bloodthirsty regime of Iran ,but the world dont show much compassion to this people ,and Iran everybody know is violence humanrights all the time ,but we the rest we with pride say we are so Human ...Norway with their nobelsprise ..Greece that have jailed non criminals asylseekers in camps that look like the camps under Holocost ..i will try find the video on the web for you ...to see...

[hefeltbad]

@TheZibatarinMoosighi iran should be ashamed in all honesty,no man or woman should be afraid to return to their native land,shame on iran and the tyrants running it.

[TheZibatarinMoosighi]

@hefeltbad yes and true ..so many Iranians now go underground in many

countries from the fear of beeing sent back ..this is such a shame ,i know about many storys like this ...the WORLD SHOULD BE ASHAMED !!