Czech mates? Syrians plead for help on German border

Feature: Thousands of Syrian refugees held in a Czech detention centre on the German border complain of terrible conditions and treatment.

Analysis

4 min read

Mohammad Azzam

16 September, 2015

Syrian refugees Czech SASA DJORDJEVIC/AFP

Syrian refugees are facing extreme conditions on the Czech-German border [AFP]

On the Czech-German border, Syrian refugees are suffering from severe conditions in a Czech detention centre, while Arab media appears indifferent to their plight.

Around 2,000 Syrian refugees, including children and elderly people, are being held at the isolated detention centre, after being forced off a train from Austria to Germany.

Laurence Suleiman, a young Syrian in his thirties from Deir Ezzor, was headed to Berlin on the train. But his dreams of finding a new dignified life came to a halt when the train passed through the Czech Republic and Czech police led the Syrian passengers to the detention centre.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed secured a phone call with Suleiman and other Syrian refugees held at the detention facility. Some Syrians had been detained for more than 70 days in order to force them to be fingerprinted, documented and processed, they said, which means that the Czech Republic will be their final stop on their journey to seek asylum.

"Help us. No one cares about us here. Arab media is focused on the suffering of refugees in Hungary, but we're just like them. We're detained here in compounds and we're not allowed to leave or receive our basic needs," said Suleiman.

Pay to be detained

A young Syrian mother named Hazar complained about not being able to provide her autistic son with anything. She has been trapped in the detention facility for the past five days, after a long journey from Turkey via Hungary and Slovakia, with her elderly mother.

"The detention centre is really far from any inhabited locations and the centre's security confiscated mine and my mother's phones, iPad, watch and rings, because they charge each refugee 12 euros to stay in the centre - which they take from the confiscated money and processions after valuing their worth," said Hazar.

Those of us who don't have security issues with the Syrian regime have started thinking about going back home

Some refugees spoke of their fear of having their detention extended or being transferred to another detention facility used by Czech authorities, which Syrian refugees describe as being "a living hell".

"We went on hunger strikes in protest against the inhumane conditions at the detention facility and the centre's security extended the detention of some of us and threatened to put us in solitary confinement. One pregnant lady had a nervous breakdown due to the terrible conditions," said Yasser, a Syrian detained at the border facility.

The refugee protests forced the Czech interior minister to visit the detention centre, but those who spoke to al-Araby al-Jadeed say the interpreters did not convey their message to the minister - instead telling him that the refugees wanted their confiscated phones back to get back in contact with smugglers.

"Our conditions are terrible. Those who are sick can't get medicine and there isn't any baby formula or diapers. Even our clothes are no good and don't protect us against the cold nights," said Samer Abu Jameel.

"Those of us who don't have security issues with the Syrian regime have started thinking about going back home, which is better than this life of indignity," he added.

A perilous journey

One of Abu Jameel's friends who is being detained with him in the Czech facility told al-Araby al-Jadeed about the journey they had taken before ending up at the Czech-German border.

The Czech police confiscated all of our possessions while treating us with no respect, just like the Syrian intelligence services that we've escaped from

"I left from Syria to Turkey where I stayed for about six months, then I contacted some smugglers who put me on a rubber dingy headed to the Greek island of Kos with 34 adults and 13 children, in addition to our bags," said the friend, who wanted to remain anonymous.

"From there we got on a UN ferry and paid 60 euros to be transported to Athens, which refused to receive us so we crossed the Greek border into Macedonia in a convoy of around 5,000 refugees."

In Macedonia, the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the refugees before transferring them to the Serbian border for a fee of 150 euros each.

The refugees told al-Araby al-Jadeed that the police and others extorted them for money during every step of their journey. When they reached Austria and boarded the train towards Germany, they had no idea that it would go through the Czech Republic, and that they would be so close to gaining asylum - yet so far.

"It was clear from the start. The Czech police confiscated all of our possessions while treating us with no respect, just like the Syrian intelligence services that we've escaped from," said Samer Abu Jameel.