Stories of the abuse of Iranian refugees by the Cypriot government are rapidly emerging, and when taken all together, the picture that materializes is grim indeed. As one element in the campaign to put an end to the abuse of Iranian refugees by the government of Cyprus and its various enforcement agencies, we are asking concerned citizens worldwide to use the sample letter below to advocate for Mrs. Ameneh Samry, a wheelchair-bound, incontinent 81-year-old mother who has been arrested and harassed by Cypriot police and continues to be subjected to their inhumane policies and procedures (Ameneh’s story).
It should be noted that this email has been sent to various authorities in Cyprus by ICRIR member Iran Refugees Action Network, but no response has been received to date.
Please copy and paste the below email, or write your own letter of objection to the abusive treatment of Mrs. Samry, and send to the following recipients (the Cypriot police, and several offices within the International Committee of the Red Cross, including their refugee unit):
Send to: police@police.gov.cy, informatics@redcross.gr, swd@redcross.gr, ir@redcross.gr
Copy/paste into your email:
To:
Chief of Police – Cyprus
Deputy Chief of Police – Cyprus
Commander of Limassol District
Commissioner for Administration
Hellenic Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross – Geneva
I am writing on behalf of Mrs. Ameneh Samry, an Iranian asylum-seeker, and her family. Mrs. Samry is an 81-year-old disabled refugee who suffers from memory loss and is using a wheelchair for mobility. She was recently arrested in relation to her application for asylum and then released many hours later, after officers could not provide her with the necessary nursing or medical care she required. Mrs. Samry has now been ordered to report to Limassol Police on a daily basis, to sign in. I’m not quite sure what your guidelines are for refugees but I ask: would you do the same to your 81-year-old invalid mother or grandmother?
I consider this treatment of Mrs. Samry appalling. It is beyond my imagination and any normal reasoning that an 81-year-old invalid would be put through these outrageous procedures.
I appeal to your department to initiate a more common sense approach to this matter. There is no reason that Mrs. Samry, if able, or her guardian, couldn’t call the station to check in once a week or once a month, rather than force a invalid woman in a wheelchair to report to a police station daily.
I demand that you correct this situation immediately and ensure that Mrs. Samry will no longer be forced to report.
Sincerely,
[your name]
Cc: International Committee of the Red Cross – Refugee Protection, Geneva, Switzerland, Hellenic Red Cross
Members of the ICRIR include Action for Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, International Federation for Iranian Refugees, Iranian Refugees Action Network, Iranian Refugee Amnesty Network, and Mission Free Iran.
Respect the elders and respect all freedom loving people especially since we all in the wide base of the pyramid are in the same boat—be we police officers, business people, educators and many more community members. We all need to stand tall against the 2% evil Big, Old Money Manipulators who have divided and conqueored us since the Middle Ages for their own monopolistic greed and corrupted lifestyles as the rich and famous—even in their secluded mansions.
Posted by Diane | April 20, 2011, 4:13 pmPlease, stop this crime.
Posted by Corey Lascaris | April 21, 2011, 3:03 pm