Eight men who risked their lives as translators for British soldiers in Iraq have pleaded with Sefton Council to help save them from almost certain death.
The eight translators all went into hiding last year, along with their families, after their personal details were leaked to Iranian-backed militias who have threatened to kill them because of their work with the British Army.
Since then, they have been unable to see their families, find jobs or even leave their hiding places for fear of being murdered and have asked the British government to give them and their families asylum.
But so far nothing has been done for the translators, leading them to write to Sefton Council after learning that the Merseyside local authority agreed in March this year to take in 25 Afghan translators who faced similar threats.
Speaking over the phone from an undisclosed location inside Iraq, one of the translators, Ahmed (not his real name), told the ECHO: “I know they don’t have the authority to make a difference, but I thought maybe they can provide some help.
“When you are in the middle of the sea and you are about to sink, you try to catch anything to prevent you from sinking and you try to stay alive.
“At any point you will try to do anything to prevent yourself from sinking and dying. Anything that will help you to float, anything that will provide a safe place for your family and your child.”
Ahmed and his colleagues were recruited in 2018 after undergoing strenuous security checks and worked with several British units who were training Iraqi security forces at Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad.
He said: “I just remember my first day working with the UK forces, they told me ‘Welcome to the family’.
“I felt it. They treated us well and they were good people. I worked for different units with the UK forces, they were very good people and they were treating us well, so we felt that we were part of this big family.”
Because of the risk from militias hostile to foreign troops, however, Ahmed had to keep his job a secret from everyone except his wife and had to constantly change what time he went to and from work and what route he took.
But after the American airstrike that killed top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani in January 2020, the situation began to deteriorate with increasing attacks on the camp, one of which killed a British soldier and two US servicemen.
At the same time, Ahmed said, the eight translators’ personal details somehow ended up in the hands of the militia groups and, in October, ended up published on a website alongside threats from one of the militias. One translator was even sent three bullets, each representing a member of his family in a clear threat to their lives.
At that point, Ahmed sent his wife and young son away and went into hiding.
He said: “We already know what happened to our colleagues after the international forces withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 and what they faced during that time period.
"Anyone who refused to cooperate with [the militias], they got kidnapped and tortured and even some of them got killed, so unfortunately we had to change our location because we are familiar with this kind of people.”
An added complication, Ahmed told the ECHO, is that many of these militias appear to have a legitimate side that works with the Iraqi security forces manning checkpoints during the day while carrying out terrorist attacks at night.
He said: “Anybody who made [the list published online], now he lives in risk.
“If he tries to live his life as usual, maybe a checkpoint works jointly with [the militias], maybe they catch him and he will be kidnapped and we don’t know what happens next after kidnapping.”
He is, understandably, terrified and desperate to escape, but also appears to have accepted his fate and be more concerned with the safety of his family.
He said: “It’s not about me, I’m not the first interpreter or the last one who is going to die. It’s not about me, it’s about my wife, it’s about my boy.”
So far, his appeals for help from the UK have fallen on deaf ears, with only one member of the House of Lords, Baroness Coussins, taking up his case.
When contacted by the ECHO, Sefton Council said it was sympathetic to the translators’ situation, but the decision on allowing them to enter the UK rested with the Home Office in London.
A council spokesperson said: “Sefton is a welcoming borough that is happy to accommodate anyone from around the world who faces persecution in their homeland and the council is sympathetic to the plight of the Iraqis who assisted British forces during military operations in the Middle East.
“However we also recognise there are strict protocols with regards to claims for asylum or refugee status that are controlled by the Home Office and anyone wishing to claim asylum or apply for refugee status in the UK needs to follow these protocols.”
This is the key stumbling block. While the relocation scheme for Afghan interpreters remains open, a similar scheme for Iraqi interpreters has closed and there appear to be no plans to reopen it with the government believing the risk to the translators in Iraq to be low.
A spokesperson for Red T, a non-profit organisation focused on protecting translators and interpreters in high-risk situations, said: “It’s important to note that the case of the eight Iraqi interpreters is playing out against the backdrop of the UK government’s assessment that the risk in Iraq is low.
“We beg to differ, as do other research and monitoring organisations. Finding three bullets on your doorstep, one for each member of your family, and being forced into hiding surely should qualify as an extreme risk that warrants relocation.
“We at Red T hope the relevant authorities find it in their heart to facilitate a visa pathway for this small group and welcome them to safety.”
Steve Crawshaw, director of policy and advocacy at the charity Freedom from Torture, added: "In conflict, interpreters put themselves in dangerous situations for us, often risking torture and persecution themselves. Interpreters tell powerful stories for people who have had their voice or rights taken away, and they remind us that human connection transcends language.
"They must not fall victim to this government's aggressive 'hostile environment' tactics. Interpreters are champions and they deserve our protection".
A government spokesperson said: “We successfully resettled interpreters and their families from Iraq in recognition of the huge debt of gratitude we owed them for risking their lives alongside UK armed forces. This scheme included relocation to the UK or a financial payment for eligible members of staff.
“Although this scheme has now closed, we have a proud record of supporting those in danger of persecution and all asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits.”
In the meantime, Ahmed and his colleagues and their families must wait in isolation for a decision that may never come - or for the militias to find them.
Ahmed said: “I’m just avoiding contact with people, avoiding going through checkpoints.
I can’t see my wife, my boy. Usually I call them, check in on them. My wife was terrified. She told me I can’t stay in this situation any more, I want to be close to you.
“A woman always needs her husband close to her, your children want you to be close to them. If you’re not close, how can he try to feel secure and safe when he puts his head on your arm when he tries to sleep?
“This is exactly what we’re facing here, far away from people, far away from your wife, kid, far away from no money, we spent everything, we cannot go out there and find a job.”
He added: “People who served and supported and helped UK troops overseas, with a clean security background, are living in fear here and no one listens to them and no one helps them.”
