Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.09.2016, Blaðsíða 14

MORE INFORMATION, OTHER TOURS & BOOKINGS AT:
WWW.STERNATRAVEL.COM OR VISIT OUR SALES DESK AT
HARPA CONCERT HALL DOWNTOWN REYKJAVÍK
GOLDEN CIRCLE &
THE SECRET LAGOON
A perfect combo of sightseeing
and relaxation in a natural hot spring!
Starting time 10:30
Free pick-up from 10:00
Duration approx 8 hours
PRICE: 12.800 ISK
BOOK
ONLINE &
GET
STERNATR
AVEL .COM
GullfossGeysi
r
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14 — 2016
14
Torpikey Farrash and Maryam Raísi,
a mother and daughter from Afghani-
stan, are hoping against the odds to
fulfill one simple dream: to lead ordi-
nary lives in Iceland. But they are cur-
rently facing deportation, and their
future is far from certain.
As reported last month, the two
were subject to considerable persecu-
tion in Afghanistan, as Shia Muslims
belonging to the Hazara ethnic minor-
ity. After traveling between Afghan-
istan and Iran for some years, their
situation became so dangerous they
were forced to flee to Europe, ending
up in Sweden.
Swedish authorities, however, re-
jected their application for asylum be-
cause they felt that Maryam's accent
sounded more like that of someone
from Iran than from Afghanistan.
Torpikey told us Maryam's accent can
be explained by the fact that they lived
in Iran while Maryam was still quite
young, and as such her accent was co-
loured by the local language.
Nonetheless, Icelandic authori-
ties have declined to even open their
case, and both the Directorate of Im-
migration and the Immigration Ap-
peals Board have rejected their appli-
cation on the grounds of the Dublin
Regulation—an international agree-
ment which gives signatory states the
power, although not the obligation, to
deport asylum seekers back to their
previous point of departure if they had
applied for asylum elsewhere.
Torpikey and Maryam first came
to Iceland a year ago. Waiting on an
answer from Icelandic authorities has
proven quite challenging.
"It has been a very difficult time for
us," Torpikey told us. "Because every day,
we are full of stress and worries, and be-
cause of my sickness, Maryam has had
to be at home with me every day."
The sickness that Torpikey refers to
is her post-traumatic stress disorder,
combined with memory loss and high
blood pressure. She told us that while
she has been able to receive some ba-
sic medical treatment, social services
have restricted what medicine and
treatment she can have access to. So-
cial services has, she says, denied her
access to some medicine and treat-
ment which she considers essential
but Icelandic authorities do not. For
this medicine and treatment, she has
to pay full price—all but impossible on
an asylum seeker's stipend amounting
to about 10,700 ISK per week. As such,
her health has only worsened.
"I'm not so much worried about my-
self," Torpikey says. "I am more wor-
ried about Maryam, because she is still
quite young but can't live like an ordi-
nary teenager. The situation is start-
ing to affect her, and it makes me very
worried about her."
One of the things that attracted
the two to Iceland is that they learned
women in this country enjoy equal
rights with men; Afghanistan, by con-
trast, is a very masculinist culture,
Torpikey says.
"In Afghan culture, it's not con-
sidered good to be without any man,"
she told us. "If they send us back to Af-
ghanistan, we will be in danger. There
is no doubt that they will just kill us, or
some man will claim Maryam as his.
There are no rights for women. Men
can do anything to women there."
Ultimately, the two have only one
simple wish: to lead ordinary lives in
Iceland.
"We have heard that the women
here are very strong, and that they
have full rights," Torpikey told us. "So
we came here to have our rights, as hu-
man beings and as women. We ask the
Icelandic people to stand by us. Some
people think that we came here to have
a better life. But it's not like that. We
just came here to have an ordinary life.
We came to live without danger, and to
be secure."
A petition to Icelandic authorities
to let Torpikey and Maryam stay in Ice-
land has received over 2,700 signatures
at the time of this writing.
“Sending the mother and daugh-
ter back to Sweden will be one more
trauma in their life-long search for
safety and security,” the petition text
reads in part. “If they are deported to
Sweden, they will have little hope of
having the processing error made in
their application corrected, which will
lead to them being immediately sent
to Afghanistan, where they will be in
considerable danger.”
Many of the Icelanders comment-
ing on the petition have expressed
shock and sadness at UTL’s decision.
As one signer succinctly put it: “Ice-
land is big enough for those women
and many more.”
Share this article:
GPV.IS/AFG14
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
ART BICNICK
INTERVIEW
"We Just
Want An
Ordinary
Life"
An Afghan Mother And
Daughter Face Deportation
One of the more
endearing stories
from Iceland that
went v iral last
week was the tale
of a postcard that
used a crude map in lieu of an ad-
dress actually finding its way to a
farm in North Iceland. A photo of
the postcard in question went viral,
and the recipient of the postcard—
farmer Rebecca Cathrine Kaad Os-
tenfeld—told us she has been posi-
tively inundated with phone calls
and interview requests from media
outlets the world over. Far from an-
noyed by this, Rebecca told us she
welcomes the positive response, and
would like more people to come visit
her farm, which doubles as a petting
zoo. Which makes this possibly the
most Icelandic story we’ve reported
on this year.
In less adorable news, Plain Vanilla,
one of Iceland’s rising start-ups, an-
nounced last week that they will be
shuttering their doors in Iceland,
firing all 36 members of their staff.
Management said that the sudden
decision was made when American
broadcasting giant NBC ultimately
decided to pass on a mooted game
show derived from QuizUp. Plain Va-
nilla founder and director Þor steinn
Baldur Frið riks son told reporters he
believes his former employees will
help “make new companies in the
future.” Likely cold comfort to folks
who woke up one morning to find
themselves no longer with work.
If you live in Iceland and, for what-
ever inexplicable reason, you find
yourself craving McDonald’s, know
that the Directorate of Customs has
your back. Recently, customs inter-
cepted a fully cooked McDonald’s
hamburger sent in the mail from
Hungary. After mulling over their
options, customs ultimately de-
cided to let the package through,
because while Iceland does have
strict controls on imported meat,
this meat was cooked, making it
A-OK for delivery. Something to
bear in mind if you really are just
that desperate for one of those
rubbery, f lavourless “burgers.”
PF
NEWS IN
BRIEF
CONT.