“We are human beings, not cattle.”

Eduardo fled his home country after being kidnapped. Three months after he arrived in the UK seeking asylum, he was taken to Penally barracks in Wales.

THREAD
1/
“They came in the middle of the night and took us,” Eduardo says.

He was given no time to gather his possessions.

“I was so upset, scared, I had no idea what was happening.”

2/
“Everyone was so scared because Penally looks like a jail. I have never been inside a prison but it felt like one.”

“The heaters weren't working, most of the showers weren’t working and there was no soap or toilet paper most of the time.”

3/
Eduardo says they had been chosen for the barracks because they were young and fit.

He says he was put in a room with six people and that he was terrified of catching Covid-19.

“You have to share EVERYTHING… there were no safety measures put in place”.

4/
He says there was little to stop Covid-19 from spreading through the barracks.

“The whole camp was the bubble. Of course, it spread easily. There were 200 people there. It took just one guy to spread it to the whole camp."

5/
Eduardo and some of the other men freed from the barracks have been doing everything they can to work with NGOs to get the men left inside the medical care they need.

6/
“Most of them are coming from countries where they have been mistreated by the police, and going to a military site is giving them flashbacks.

“We’re trying to take care of each other.”

7/
Eduardo's solidarity with other people seeking asylum left in the barracks is nothing short of heroic.

People like Eduardo enrich our communities - we should be welcoming them with open arms. 💕

8/

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More from @FreefromTorture

25 Mar
"No one would risk death crossing the Channel if they weren't running from a terrible situation."⠀

Aydin risked everything to get to the safety of the UK. But under Priti Patel's "New Plan", many of his rights would be stripped away because he crossed the Channel by boat.

1.
Aydin is still waiting to hear if his asylum claim was successful. But even if he is successful, under Priti Patel's new plans, he could be at risk of immediate deportation at any moment. No one should have to live like this - let alone a survivor of torture.

2.
Aydin has already been through so much. In his country of origin, he fought against the eradication of the language and culture of his ethnic group in the Middle East. The price he paid was torture. He fled alone, leaving his life and family behind him.⠀

3.
Read 7 tweets
24 Mar
Hey @Priti Patel - here's our message. 👇

We see you.

We see you trying to divide us.

We see you trying to stoke hate against people trying to build a better life.

You promised compassion, but this is not what compassion looks like.

THREAD
1.
Under your new plans, many of our friends would've been deported and their contributions to our society would've been lost.

Under your plans, they might never have seen their families again.

Under your plans, they might have been sent back to their torturers.

2.
Your actions are dangerous for people seeking safety.

Five times as many people lose their lives in government-provided asylum accommodation than trying to cross the Channel last year.

We see you, trying to divide us, but we won't be divided.

3.
Read 4 tweets
24 Mar
Every human seeking safety is someone just like you.

A mother, father, sister, brother.

But today, @pritipatel is announcing cruel plans designed to make us forget that.

THREAD Image
These plans involve a two-tier system for asylum seekers.

They will prevent people fleeing torture and persecution from being able to rebuild their lives with their families in the UK.

2/
Last year, following the Windrush scandal, Priti Patel promised a more “compassionate” Home Office.

But these new plans are anything but.

3/
Read 7 tweets
19 Mar
I WAS FREED FROM THE BARRACKS, HEAR MY MESSAGE:

I thought that the UK would be a safe place for me. That was before I was taken to the barracks.

Please don’t let the people left inside the camps feel like they’ve been left behind.

THREAD #CloseTheBarracks
1/
It took me two years to reach the UK. I never thought I'd end up in a military camp when I got here.

I was one of the first men brought to the barracks.

When we arrived at night, we were met by far-right protestors blocking the road and banging on the bus windows.

2/
They wanted to make sure that we felt afraid and we did.

We had no idea what was going on. We were terrified and thought we were being deported.

Being in the camp was very retraumatizing for me. It reminded me of when I was in a military camp in Syria and they tortured me.

3/
Read 8 tweets
18 Mar
Last year, in response to the #WindrushReview, @pritipatel promised a "fair, humane, compassionate and outward-looking Home Office".

How's that going?

thetimes.co.uk/article/asylum…
Surely a coincidence that this story has leaked this THE SAME WEEK that pressure has built on the government for a Covid inquiry.

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel would never use people seeking asylum to distract us from their failures... right?

🤔
Priti Patel's plans to send people fleeing torture and war away to distant islands are extreme and cruel.

This government will do anything to distract us from their failures, encouraging us to blame refugees when things go wrong.
Read 5 tweets
4 Feb
MESSAGE FROM THE BARRACKS.

My name is Omar.

I lived in the barracks for two months.

Today I'm using Freedom from Torture's platform to speak to you directly about the crisis of the UK government’s prison camps for refugees.

Please share my message.
THREAD
1/
I come from a country that has continuous wars. So when I first arrived at the barracks and saw the fences, the metal gates and the security guards, I was shocked and afraid.

I never thought the hardest part of my journey would be when I arrived in the UK.

2/
While I was there, a man in my room caught Covid-19 symptoms.

He was coughing in the confined space where we were sleeping. He'd also lost his sense of taste and smell.

3/
Read 8 tweets

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