Denmark is reportedly planning on deporting a 70-year-old woman with dementia to Afghanistan, despite pleas she will not survive “two days” in the war torn country.
Zarmena Waziri, who lives in the eastern city of Aarhus with her daughter, has suffered strokes, chronic high blood pressure and reduced mobility, in addition to advanced senile dementia.
Marzia Waziri acts as her mother’s carer and has held Danish residency for 25 years. Her two children are Danish citizens.
The family claims to have no relatives in Afghanistan.
But the authorities have rejected Ms Waziri’s asylum application and ordered her to go to a deportation centre, the Politiken newspaper reported.
Her daughter said she “did not want to think about” what would happen if her mother was forced to travel to Afghanistan. “She will not survive down there,” Ms Waziri added, assessing her mother would only last a couple of days.
“She doesn’t know her own medicine,” she told the newspaper. “She wouldn’t survive in my apartment if she was left alone. She cannot hold water and has to use diapers. She forgets to chew her food and chokes on it.
“I don’t know how many times we’ve contacted emergency services.”
Ms Waziri continued: “We have no family left in Afghanistan that would be able to receive her. We are two siblings living in Denmark.”
Pro-immigrant campaigners have vowed to fight the deportation and any others. It is rumoured the government is secretly planning a large round up of failed Afghan asylum seekers in the coming weeks.
After years of war, Afghanistan remains highly unstable and poverty is rife. The country’s health status is among the worst in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, and there is only one doctor for every 6,000 people.
