Latif Sharifi and Esmatullah Nazari arrived in Indonesia about seven years ago. The two were Afghan refugees from Ghazni province. Sharifi and Nazari died with a time difference of fewer than 24 hours on (Wednesday, January 5). Friends and roommates of Nazari say they were shocked by Latif’s death.
Assadullah Amiri is a close friend of Esmatullah Nazari in Indonesia who has apparently lived in a camp with Nazari in Indonesia for about two years. Regarding Nazari’s death, Amiri said, “Nazari did not have a history of serious illness, but on Thursday night, after dinner, the boys sat down and talked about Latif, who had died in the morning. Once Esmat fell, and on the way to the hospital, he died.”
Doctors have described the cause of death of 32-year-old Esmatullah as a heart attack.
Javid Jafari is Latif Sharifi’s roommate, and Sharifi arrived in Indonesia in 2014. Jafari said Sharifi had been suffering from pressure illness for two years. “He had pressure, his pressure was sometimes very high,” he added. “Most of the time it was over 200 until he was hospitalized two months ago,” Jafari claims that he lost his friend due to the negligence of the hospital and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Jafari says he has repeatedly raised the issue of Latif’s health with (IOM), however, the organization has not taken any serious and effective action to improve his health. According to Jafari, Afghan refugees in Indonesia do not have the right to work and the organization is responsible for their accommodation, expenses, and health issues. “We waited for two months, but (IOM) did not take Latif to the dormitory,” said the Afghan refugee. “Every time I pursued Latif’s job, they just blamed each other.”
Javid Jafari reminded that (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are oppressing and neglecting them and said: “(IOM) discharged Latif from the hospital a few days ago. When he came to the room, his condition deteriorated. We took him to a nearby hospital, however, it did not have good facilities there. When we called (IOM), it did not pay much attention, and unfortunately, we lost Latif in the hospital.”
Moreover, the deaths of two Afghan refugees in less than 24 hours in Indonesia have prompted other migrants to protest in front of the (UNHCR) and demand clarification of their fate.
Aman, one of the immigration rights activists in Oscar city, said 16 people protested in front of the (UNHCR) office on Friday, January 7th, but were met with ugly treatment by police, adding that human rights organizations and migrants should pay attention to us so that we get out of this situation.
More than 7,000 Afghan refugees have been waiting to be resettled in Indonesia for about ten years. These asylum seekers have protested several times so far. They describe the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as corrupt, mafia-like, and abusive.
About a month ago, a number of social media users launched the hashtag “EndTO10YearsLimbo” in protest of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) not resettling Afghan refugees in Indonesia. The users called on the UN to end a decade of misery for Afghan refugees in Indonesia, and the second round of the campaign is scheduled to be launched three days later, on January 9.
“On January 9, we will file a lawsuit against our displaced persons in Indonesia, and we will send our request to the pigeons and send it to the address of awakened consciences,” wrote Dawood Sarkhosh, a famous artist on his Facebook account.
Meanwhile, Farhad Darya, another prominent artist in the country, has also joined the Twitter campaign. “Love and share this hashtag (Help Refugees-Indonesia) as much as you can,” Mr. Darya wrote on his Facebook page in support of the campaign.
Mohammad Hussain Amini Mehrjoo, one of the organizers of the campaign, says that more than 7,000 Afghan refugees in Indonesia have no hope of returning and no way forward. Mr. Amini adds: “There is not much left to protest and roar, and we pledge not to forget each other in the most difficult days, and to use the least space for litigation to support asylum seekers trapped in purgatory, such as Indonesia.”
The situation of Afghan refugees is a source of concern for social media users, as 14 refugees have so far committed suicide in Indonesia and a number of others are said to be in a bad mood.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” class=”” width=””]Mozhgan Hussaini, Hasht-e Subh[/box]
