Before fleeing Sudan at the age of 14, Ann Bashir lived in fear of being killed and raped after family members were arrested for participating in anti-government demonstrations.
He came to Britain over two years ago, attended school in Hove, East Sussex, and is currently studying for his GCSEs.
Together with her mother Giehan Yassi and her older sister Enji Bashir, she integrated into the local community, learned English and is now expected to achieve high marks in her exams.
At least that was until the Home Office rejected the family’s asylum claim on the grounds that there was “no serious enough risk or threat” to their safety in Sudan.
‘Since 2018 we have not been able to live safely in Sudan. We lived in fear of being killed, raped, threatened with arrest and other things that words cannot describe,” said the 16-year-old.
‘We never regret standing up for freedom and justice for ourselves and Sudan.
“Every time we remember what happened, we describe it as a ‘nightmare that can never be forgotten’.
“We were leading a safe life before things got worse. In 2018, President Omar al-Bashir began frustrating the country with his strict rules.
‘People were fed up with 30 years of dictatorship, arrests of political opponents, lack of freedom, poverty, hunger and high unemployment.
“The Sudanese are afraid of the Janjaweed, the militia-backed secret service.”
Demonstrations across the country were met with violence and tear gas, leaving many dead or injured.
Ann’s mother Giehan and her sister Enji, then just 16, were detained for attending one of them in 2019.
His father, whose name is withheld, has not been heard from since the family fled the country.
His loved ones believe that he was killed for his participation in the national demonstrations.
Despite this, the government refuses to allow Giehan, Ann and Enji to continue living in the UK.
They were also forced to move from their home of two years in Hove to moldy detention accommodation in the capital last year after their application was rejected.
They insist that the property is so dilapidated that they often have to wear masks.
As a result, Ann is forced to spend hours commuting from London to Brighton for school every day, so the family
Peter Kyle, Labor MP for Hove, said his case is irrefutable proof that the UK’s asylum system is “broken”.
He said: ‘Ann is in her final year of study for her GCSEs and as part of the asylum system in this country she is allowed to appeal and continue studying.
Taking her out of Hove, where she has a great circle of friends and support, leaving her in Tower Hamlets and interrupting her studies at this crucial time is a disgrace.
‘Ann could become a doctor or a scientist or a teacher and be something special to this country.
He needs to be allowed to finish his studies in Hove while he continues his asylum application.
“The fact that the Home Office has focused on a fatherless child shows how broken the system is.
‘Shouldn’t we be focusing on criminals, not helpless children working hard to make something of their lives in exceptionally difficult circumstances?’
More than 300 students attended a 33-minute vigil for Ann and her family earlier this week.
It meant the 33 days her sister Enji spent in jail at 16 simply for protesting.
The vigil was part of the SOS: Save Our Student campaign orchestrated by students from Cardinal Newman School.
Principal Claire Jarman stressed that Ann deserves to at least finish her full-time education in the country.
She said: ‘Ann does these two-hour commutes every morning, but she’s very focused and works very hard. She is never late and she never misses a day of school.
“She really hates this fight and fears that the consequences of being sent back to Sudan could be huge, even deadly.
“There is a 16-year-old girl at the center of this who is dealing with unimaginable stress.
‘Imagine the stress of studying for your GCSEs, compounded by the fact that you could be sent back to a potentially dangerous place and the fact that you don’t even know if your father is dead or alive in that country.
“Stressful really isn’t enough, it’s unthinkable.”
A Home Office spokesman declined to comment on the family’s claim.
They said that all asylum applications are considered on their individual merits according to the asylum rules and the evidence presented.
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