 Print
Syrian Refugee stranded in Malaysian airport for 7 months Granted Asylum in Canada
11-26-2018
After spending seven months in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and two months in a detention centre Hassan Al Kontar has been granted asylum in Canada. Hassan arrived in Vancouver on the evening of Monday, November 26th, where he was met by representatives from the Canada Caring Society, the organizations which supported his cause and B.C. Muslim Association which sponsored him to come to Canada.
“We are so relieved that Hassan will be coming to Canada,” says Laurie Cooper, a volunteer with Canada Caring Society. “It was a unique and very difficult situation. We are really grateful to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and to the Canadian officials who worked so hard to resolve Hassan’s predicament. We are proud that Canada was willing to step up and help Hassan when so many countries around the world are closing their doors to refugees.”
Hassan al-Kontar is one of 5 million registered Syrian refugees across the world with about some 3.5 million, residing in Turkey.
Hassan was working in the UAE when the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. The civil war now is in its eighth year has many countries closing their borders to additional refugees.
Hassan could not renew his passport as it required for Syrian men between the ages of 18 to 42 to serve in the military. With those, evading will be facing imprisonment or be forced to serve in the military. He's also Druze, a minority religious group in Syria that has been targeted by extremist groups.
Since his passport ran out in January of 2012 he lived as a stateless person, trapped in the UAE until January of 2017. Eventually one of his ex-colleagues was able to renew his passport for two years and the authorities wanted to send him back to Syria, but he was able to convince airport officials to send him to Malaysia instead.
Malaysia is one of only a few countries that grants Syrians visa-on-arrival. Unable to find a job for three months he overstayed for a month.
He tried to leave the country twice, first on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, eventually connecting to Ecuador, where Syrians can also gain visa-on-arrival. He was stopped from boarding this flight. The second time was on an AirAsia flight to Cambodia. This venture was slightly more successful in that he made it to Cambodia. However, Cambodian officials who decided that he did not qualify for a visa sent him back to Malaysia.
The 37-year-old from Suweida, south of Damascus 7arrived back to Malaysia on the 7th of March. Upon his arrival, he realised that if he went through immigration, he would be taken to a detention centre and deported to Syria, as Malaysia is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Thus, he never left the arrivals lounge and was under the care of AirAsia, with the airline providing him the same three meals of chicken and rice every day for the last 264 days.
After his story went viral on his twitter handle, a group of Canadians volunteers in Whistler B.C became aware of Hassan’s plight in April 2018 and tried unsuccessfully to help him leave Malaysia – decided to try to sponsor him to come to Canada. As of November 25, about 62,478 Canadians had signed a petition on change.org, raised over $17,000 to sponsor Hassan to come to Canada as a refugee, and secured a job offer for him. They publicly lobbied Ahmed Hussen, Canada's minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship to help.
Shawkat Hasan, Vice President of BC Muslim Association Social services heard about Hassan’s situation through social media, he reached out and offered the BCMA’s support of Hassan’s application through the association’s sponsorship program.
In October, while his application was being processed, Hassan was arrested by Malaysian immigration officials. Over the next two months his Toronto-based pro bono lawyer, Andrew Brouwer, worked closely with UNHCR, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), as well as a prominent Malaysian lawyer, to ensure Hassan’s safety, prevent his deportation to Syria, and facilitate his resettlement to Canada.
Some media reports have claimed that Hassan refused offers of asylum from Malaysia and other countries, but that information is not correct. “Mr. Al Kontar never received, much less refused, an offer of refugee protection from any other country,” says Mr. Brouwer. “To the contrary, he twice attempted to seek protection in other countries, but on both occasions was denied access. Mr. Al Kontar’s only resettlement option was resettlement to Canada.”
Hassan was greeted by Laurie Cooper and Shawkat Hassan at the Vancouver International airport late evening at about 7.40 pm. Speaking to the media he said “All I was asking for was for my freedom and to be legal and safe somewhere.”
When asked about his 7 months stay at the airport lounge, what would you like to do first? He replied “For the time being I need a hot shower for the rest of my day.”
Speaking about Canada, he said “In Canada you have something very special, you have an amazing group of people who believe as individuals they can make a difference, they give a great example for the whole world, as human we can change other human lives.”
Hassan was very grateful for his supporters and thanked Laurie Cooper, saying, “The real people are working behind the scenes lead by this great mother –Laurie Cooper.”
He also acknowledged the power of social media for raising his issues.
Hassan thanked all Canadians for helping him in his darkest hour. He pledged to be a well member of this community, and will respect their ways of life. “Canadian helped me, One day when I will have my children I will tell them Canada helped me and changed my life and theirs.” He thanked all Canadians and the Government for their support.
While Hassan’s experience of being stuck in the airport for months is unique, it is an example of the kinds of difficulties faced by refugees who are trying to find a safe place to live. There are currently more than 68 million displaced people in the world and over 25 million are recognized as refugees by UNHCR. According to the United Nations, “a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.”
Footnotes:
|