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Merhat
Merhat arrived in the UK on 20 January 2002, having escaped from violation of her human rights, illegal imprisonment, rape and torture in Ethiopia. She made her application for asylum on 22 January, and this was refused on 3 September 2002. In the intervening years she has made four further appeals, the last being refused on 22 December 2006. Merhat now faces deportation to a country that won’t safeguard her human rights or acknowledge her nationality, and there

is no guarantee it will not imprison and abuse her again. Effectively, she has no nationality and is, literally, at the mercy of the authorities – both in the UK and the place to which it is proposed she returns.

While Merhat had always thought herself to be of Ethiopian nationality, as she was born there, her father was originally from Eritrea and since her Ethiopian mother’s death in 1996 she was at risk because of her dual parentage. The situation in Ethiopia continues to be politically volatile, and those thought to be of Eritrean nationality or Eritrean sympathisers continue to be treated harshly, imprisoned without representation or trial, and subjected to brutal and inhumane treatment. Amnesty International reports Ethiopian abuses towards supposed Eritrean sympathisers regularly, although the Ethiopian government denies this.

She arrived in the UK, after four years of abuse and imprisonment, from which she only escaped through the help of a hospital nurse (where she was receiving care having haemorrhaged after the miscarriage of a pregnancy caused by rape) who risked her own safety to help her. Deeply wounded both physically and psychologically after four years of abuse, she arrived in the UK via Sudan, hoping for help. She had no papers, was unable to speak English, and was further demoralised and dejected by her treatment here. Refused asylum and made homeless, she found herself referred to the Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture, and then the Helen Bamber Foundation, both charities that provide psychological and practical support, to help her pursue her request for help from the UK.

Diagnosed with PTSD and neurological problems, plus damage to her left leg and right shoulder, Merhat has been receiving psychotherapeutic and physical treatment at the Helen Bamber Foundation. For the first year of her treatment she was unable to stop crying. Her progress over the last five years has been extraordinary, making the journey from the complete destruction of her humanity to someone with hope. However, with her future so uncertain, her recovery cannot be complete and, with the fear of deportation an increasing reality, she sees suicide as the only solution. It is hard to hope for a happy ending.