refugees' library vol. 10 - rojind, irak (english)

March 5th, 201411:15 AM

Administrative Court 221) Rojin D. D. 2) Mirza D. 3) Sabri D.

Asylum Court -Main Proceedings-1 Interpreter

Hello Mrs. D., I am the only judge who will decide the status of you and your children.How is it working out with your interpreter?

There are two black folders here on the window sill. They contain the current views of the German Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons, Refugees and War Victims and those of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in regards to the situation in Iraq.

Mrs. D., you are from Iraq, are of Kurdish descent and are a Yazidi. Your husband is a police officer.We just had a hearing on the status of the Yazidi minority in Iraq. Ms. B., your lawyer, spoke a great deal on this matter. I will add this information to the court record.

Ms. B, you need not present this again. May we also skip

the commentary on this matter?

We were threa-tened.

Mrs. D., why did you leave Iraq?

Judge:By whom?

Plaintiff: I cannot say.

Judge:Why?

We received letters. They were thrown over our fence. My children

found some of the letters and tore them up. I showed my husband one of the letters. I couldn’t read or write.

He said that they contained threats.

That’s when I got scared.

What was in the letter, exactly?

The letter said that they knew that he is a police officer and he should resign. That was the last threat.

The letter was unsigned.But my husband didn’t tell me all of that. I was pregnant; he didn’t want me to worry. I had already had gone

through two miscarriages.

Judge:Did you receive any other kinds of threats?

Plaintiff: Yes. Phone calls. My husband got them on his cellphone. At the time he didn’t mention them. Only after we had left Iraq for Germany did he tell me about them.

Judge:What happened next?

Plaintiff: I got even more scared. I had saved some money in case, if something happened, that I could take the children and leave. 2,000 dollars as well as some other forms of cash.

Why did you go out onto

the street on that night?

There was a knock on the door. I was afraid. I didn’t know who was there. I lost my nerve. My children and I left the house through the backdoor. My husband had made a plan for us.

Judge:What was his plan?

Plaintiff: A friend of his helped us. He called a taxi which brought us to Rabia.

Judge:Did the taxi driver charge you?

Plaintiff: : No.

Judge: What did you do after arriving in Rabia?

What was his last name? Ibrahim…

We stayed with the taxi driver for two days. He took our passports in order to get everything ready. Then we went to Ibrahim Khalil and then to Silopi.

Ok. It’s not on my map, that’s

why I asked.

Ibrahim Khalil, that’s on the Iraqi-Turkish border.

Were you charged later

on?

Yes. The taxi driver gave me a phone number. That was for a man who

also helped us; I paid him. I told him,

“I’m a woman, please

help me.”

(dictating):“I don’t know how

much it cost because I paid with gold.” Dictated

aloud, simultaneously translated und

accepted.

You did not mention these threatening phone calls at

the Federal Office. Mrs. D., can you explain this?

Only after arriving in Germany did Mrs. D....

Please allow the claimant to answer first.

Because I didn’t know anything

about them. I only learned

about them after my husband came to

Germany and told me about them.

She did not know about the phone

calls at the time. She fled with her children and her husband came

afterwards. Mrs. D. learned the

details only after he arrived in

Germany.

I have no more questions.

The lawyer provides the judge with four

photos of Mrs. D.’s husband.

(dictating): On one of these photos is a man in a police

uniform. He’s standing next to an American

soldier.

Police officers are often killed while off-duty.

Off-duty police officers are killed at a rate one-third higher than

those on duty.

You applied for refugee status and

subsidiary protection. I will pass judgment this

afternoon.

Dictated aloud and accepted.

Court is adjourned at 12:25 PM.

Judge (to interpreter):Are you familiar with this part of the world? Maybe you can help me. I don’t have a good map of the

area; I was looking in an antique store. There were two maps from the 60’s, one written in Cyrillic

that I cannot read and one designed for the US Air

Force. The latter does not name any locations, which probably

is not important

for the Air Force.

Are you drawing me?

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