Farida Khurami grew up on Dokka in Hov i Land, and went to fourth grade when the family was torn from the local community and sent to Afghanistan, a country she had never been to before.
The family’s support group at Dokka has since fought for Farida to return, and believes Norway violated the UN Refugee Convention when the family was deported.
The case has been in Norwegian courts six times, and when Farida explained herself in the second round of the Court of Appeal, she said that she lived “in hell.”
As the security situation in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate, the family embarked on a dangerous escape in April, arriving in Turkey in June.
– Being on the run is very difficult and cruel, very scary and dangerous. If you do not experience it yourself, you can hardly comprehend it, says Farida.
Glad she’s alive
The escape took many weeks, and she says there is a lot she cannot account for.
– I fell and hit myself hard in the head, and it bled a lot. I lost the feeling in my feet, she says.
Along the way, she feared she would not survive.
– I am very happy that I am alive today, and can sit here and talk to you, says Farida to TV 2 on Skype from Turkey.
Liv Marie Simensveen in the Support Group at Dokka was notified of the escape a couple of days before.
– Then I was very scared, but I think that it is not us as a support group who decide, but I was a bit like that – well, you should use life as an effort. I was very worried.
Without signs of life
There were long weeks without signs of life from the family, and the relief was great when they were finally in Turkey.
– It is absolutely awful to see how it is in Afghanistan now. But inside me, I’m just so happy that our family is in Turkey. That they themselves understood that it was important to travel. I am very happy that they are not there now, says Simensveen.
In her new life, Farida has the freedom to go out as she pleases, buy herself an ice cream, go for a walk in the park.
– I can breathe fresh air, Farida smiles.
The family is registered as asylum seekers and is legally resident in Turkey while awaiting processing of the asylum application.
The family’s lawyer Arild Humlen has made sure that they have legal assistance in Turkey, and the Support Group has managed to find an apartment for them, and makes sure that they have what they need.
– We are very happy to still be able to support the family with subsistence, says Simensveen.
Warms the heart
For the first time since Farida was sent to Afghanistan, she can sleep safely in her own bed, and not on a mattress on the floor.
– It took a few days for this girl to learn to sleep in a bed, and she says “I have a duvet, and I have a pillow, and I lie so well”. It warms our hearts only that we can contribute to such things, says Simensveen.
At the same time as the family is waiting for asylum treatment in Turkey, they are hoping for a ruling in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The family first won in three court rounds against the State, but UNE made a new decision on deportation, and when they lost in the Supreme Court last year, Norway complained to the EMD for violation of the UN Refugee Convention.
– Do you still have a belief that they will return to Norway?
– Yes, I have, I still put my trust in Norway to finally fix it – and maybe with a little help from the EMD. It is our goal, and our hope, that this must end in justice for Farida and her family, so that she can still be a “Dokka girl”.
Afraid of the future
Farida came to Norway with her mother in 2011, and received a residence permit. When the father came to Dokka the following year, the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) withdrew the refugee status to the family.
Farida and her family were forcibly deported to Kabul, Afghanistan on February 12, 2015.
They are safe in Turkey now, but Farida still lives in fear.
– I do not know what tomorrow will bring me, and I can still be allowed to be in the country or not, if I am thrown out, as I was in Norway. Nothing is guaranteed.
– I hope that my life is not only temporary, but permanent, that I can go to school again. That is my biggest wish.
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