The Waterford-based family of an Iraqi citizen who is about to be deported has expressed fear for his safety.
Mr Ahmed Shakar Mussad (44), who has sought asylum in Britain and Ireland, is to be deported back to Iraq within days after his application was rejected by British authorities. However, his brother, Mr Hamid Mussad, and his sister-in-law, Waterford-born Ms Emily Mussad, have asked the Minister for Justice to intervene and ensure his application is processed in Ireland.
"I'm an Irish citizen and surely I have a right to save a member of my own family," Ms Mussad said yesterday. "Under the convention, the Minister has the power to intervene and process his application here. That's all we're asking.
"His life is at stake, two of his cousins have been killed in the last two months. All we want is for him to stay here until it's safe to go back. He won't be a burden on the State. We'll be responsible for him, he will get bed and board with us in Waterford."
Mr Ahmed Mussad had sought asylum in Britain before moving to Ireland in June this year. However, he was transferred back to Britain under the Dublin II Regulation, which stipulates that individuals must make their application for asylum in the first EU country they enter.
A spokesman for the Minister last night said that where another EU member-state had accepted an application, the Minister did not have a role, as there was a right of appeal to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. This appeals body rejected Mr Mussad's application on the basis that it should be dealt with by British authorities.
Mr Mussad's situation became complex when, after his asylum application in Britain was rejected, he gave false details to Irish immigration authorities regarding his identity and nationality.
"When he told us what he did, he realised he had made a big mistake," Ms Mussad. "He was scared at the time, he wasn't thinking straight."
Mr Mussad is from Baqubah, a village north-west of Baghdad, in the so-called 'Sunni Triangle'.
His brother, Hamid (32), became an Irish citizen several years ago after his marriage to Emily (26). The couple live on the outskirts of Waterford and have two children, Rhiannon (4) and a newborn baby, Kameela.
Ms Kathy Sinnott, MEP has also asked Mr McDowell to consider Mr Mussad's application.
"In the past month his family home in Iraq has been hit by explosions three times and his older brother is publicly listed among those targeted by guerrillas," she said.
Mr Hamid Mussad said he was deeply upset at the prospect of his brother returning to the instability of Iraq. "I just want him here, to be safe. I'm very worried at the moment, I'm like a child, I don't know what to do, I have no energy to talk or to play with my children."
