Exclusive: Lawyers tell Home Office about health issues of man who says smuggling gangs make it too dangerous for him to go back to France
An Iranian man who returned to the UK on a small boat after being sent back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme is facing his second removal on Wednesday despite mounting concerns about his vulnerability.
He is being held in a UK immigration detention centre and receiving hourly welfare checks by staff because of concerns about his mental health. He claims to be a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smugglers in northern France.
“If I thought France was a safe place for me I would never have come to the UK,” the man said. He is appealing for another safe country to grant him sanctuary, because of the UK’s plan to remove him imminently.
“I believe the UK is a safe place for me, away from the smugglers in France. I cannot go back there because it is dangerous to me. Only my body can go back there, not me. I am a human being and my life will be finished there. I think the UK forgot about humans,” the man said.
