A SYRIAN artist living in Scotland has said he fears his two younger sisters are depressed and worries they may take their own lives if they cannot join him.
Salih Obied, who lives in Glasgow with indefinite leave to remain, fled his war-torn home country after being beaten and tortured and spent almost a year travelling in search of refuge.
However, he told The National: “The first time I came to Glasgow I felt welcomed and I’m settled now.”
His main worry now is that the gangs who targeted him will track down his sisters, who are aged 24 and 25.
“I was tortured in Syria, twice by militia and extremist groups because I wouldn’t do what they wanted me to do. I was going to be beheaded if I didn’t do as they wanted.
“They called me an infidel and wanted me to buy them some materials but I managed to trick them by going to another town because they thought I would return for my valuables. But I didn’t give them what they wanted. That’s one of the reasons I want my sisters over here in case these gangs find them.
“I knew they were depressed but I didn’t realise how bad it was. Both are suicidal now, and they really don’t have a life there.”
Obied said his family were strict Muslims and pressure from them and their environment was affecting their mental health. When they go out to work, he said their father sometimes followed them, watching in case they remove their hijabs.
“My father has beaten my sisters several times. They were crying when I spoke to them last because some of their pictures had been leaked from Instagram and they were terrified my father would see them. It’s pathetic, ridiculous to feel such fear just because there is a picture of your face without a hijab.
“My father has followed them to their work to see if they remove their hijab. He had a stroke and lost some of his mental faculties. He can’t really keep up with them, and pretends that he’s not trying to follow them.
“But he still tries to control them and has tried to force them to get married to get rid of them – he sees them as a burden.”
Obied’s lawyer, Usman Aslam, has been an outspoken critic of the regulations governing family reunion applications, and said they were outdated and “not fit for purpose”. He said: “Here we have a situation that people are feeling suicidal over being separated from family.
“Families belong together and even judges, who have criticised the family reunion rules, have said that blanket bans on family members, especially siblings, should not be applied.
“I am not alone in saying that the scope of the rules should be widened. Oxfam, Amnesty and an extraordinary number of MPs backed the initial Family Reunion Bill ... which even passed a second reading. This all points towards a welcome change.”
Aslam, from the Glasgow practice Rea Law, said he had seen no evidence of a need for such restrictive rules. He had raised the issue with MPs and was hopeful they could be overhauled.
“When we gather for Christmas, think of the anxiety we feel if even one family member cannot make it. Now imagine that your son, mother, sister, brother [or] grandmother is left in a warzone and you are watching the news of constant bombings in the area they live in. That is what refugees live with every day here in the UK. We are hoping for a positive result for the applicants.”
Obied added: “If my sisters are given permission to come here I’ll fetch them. My father still trusts me, and would let them leave with me, so I hope they are allowed to come.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We do not comment on individual cases."
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