The Home Office finally granted Walid the right to stay. My exhaustion is heavy but knowing he is safe makes it worth every difficult moment of this fight.
May 22, 2017
Final supporters
Walid Durani fled his home country after his grandfather was beheaded by the Taliban, who threatened him with the same fate.
His grandfathers corpse was dumped in a ditch in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan with a note pinned to the severed head: either the Durani family stopped supplying the American military with oil and electricity, or the next eldest male would face a similar fate. Walid’s father had been kidnapped by a different group of insurgents six months previously, so that person was Walid. He was 14 years old.
The threat caused his mother to bundle him into a car that same day, which took him across the border to Pakistan. From there, relatives put him aboard a plane that brought him to Heathrow. His escape was so precipitate and disorienting that Walid admits he had no idea where he was when he arrived. “I couldn’t speak any English back then,” he says. “All I had was my brother-in-law’s telephone number.”
Walid applied for asylum seeker status. He was rejected but, as a minor, was allowed to stay in the UK. He began school, learned English and befriended the son of a local building and development company, who took Walid on as an apprentice. He also studied bricklaying one day a week at college, at which he excelled.
As an adult 18, he no longer has the right to remain in the country. The immigration judge in his original trial had declared the 14-year-old an economic migrant, and the Home Office has repeatedly denied his applications as an asylum seeker on the grounds that he must prove his claims of persecution with paperwork.
Walid has tried to obtain proof of his grandfather’s death, but has hit a brick wall. "The police are so corrupt in Afghanistan that I can't get any documents without paying a substantial bribe,” he said. "Besides, death certificates don't really exist there. The country is too chaotic"
Having exhausted his legal recourses, and with his final appeal having been rejected late last year, he now faces deportation at any moment, leaving the Afghan teen tearful and desperate.
“I have no one left in Afghanistan,” he said. “My family has all escaped to Austria, but I can’t join them because I don’t have a passport. What will I do if they fly me back to Kabul? I will have to live on the streets.”
Darrell Esdale who knew Walid and is in the military says: Such a shame I fought in Afghanistan in Helmand against the Taliban so I understand Wallid's situation & frustrations with corruption with the police & militia Government ect" I have met this young man on many occasion's and I am a Pashtu linguist so I enjoy chatting with him in Afghan. I really hope the Home office can step back and look at this situation more clearly as I know he would not have a good future on the streets of Kabul with no family... Morally the UK have a duty of care for this young man now... All the best good luck... FA
Updates
April 5, 2017
Seeing this kind of movement is overwhelming after so many months of doors slamming in our faces. I am exhausted by the fight but knowing so many people see the truth of this situation gives me the strength to keep pushing.
Reached 100 supporters
April 5, 2017
72 Comments
He is a contributing member of British society and with his history, Asylum should be automatic. If he goes back he will be killed and the Taliban are growing stronger every day. It should not be up for question.
it would be cruel and dangerous to send him back to a country he doesn't know anymore. he is settled here and contributing in a big way ,learning a trade and paying his way and I see no reason to send him back. this is wrong
He has lived here for years,educated here,no relatives in Afghanistan.We want children from wartorn countries to be accepted here will we do the same yo them when they come of age?.It makes a mockery of the system!!!
What do the Home Office want as proof, then? A decapitated corpse? The extent to which some comfy civil servants in the home office seem willing to hide behind a modern version of "only obeying orders" beggars belief.
Please let this hard working and clearly loved young man stay in this country. I cannot believe that anyone could be so inhumane as to send him back to Afghanistan where his grandfather was beheaded by the Taliban. It makes me truly ashamed to be British.
We should be proud of this lad
Walid is precisely the sort of young man this country needs and should welcome. And it would be entirely inhuman and nonsensical to send him to Afghanistan. That it should even be considered makes me ashamed of my country.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
The Home Office finally granted Walid the right to stay. My exhaustion is heavy but knowing he is safe makes it worth every difficult moment of this fight.
May 22, 2017
Final supporters
Walid Durani fled his home country after his grandfather was beheaded by the Taliban, who threatened him with the same fate.
His grandfathers corpse was dumped in a ditch in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan with a note pinned to the severed head: either the Durani family stopped supplying the American military with oil and electricity, or the next eldest male would face a similar fate. Walid’s father had been kidnapped by a different group of insurgents six months previously, so that person was Walid. He was 14 years old.
The threat caused his mother to bundle him into a car that same day, which took him across the border to Pakistan. From there, relatives put him aboard a plane that brought him to Heathrow. His escape was so precipitate and disorienting that Walid admits he had no idea where he was when he arrived. “I couldn’t speak any English back then,” he says. “All I had was my brother-in-law’s telephone number.”
Walid applied for asylum seeker status. He was rejected but, as a minor, was allowed to stay in the UK. He began school, learned English and befriended the son of a local building and development company, who took Walid on as an apprentice. He also studied bricklaying one day a week at college, at which he excelled.
As an adult 18, he no longer has the right to remain in the country. The immigration judge in his original trial had declared the 14-year-old an economic migrant, and the Home Office has repeatedly denied his applications as an asylum seeker on the grounds that he must prove his claims of persecution with paperwork.
Walid has tried to obtain proof of his grandfather’s death, but has hit a brick wall. "The police are so corrupt in Afghanistan that I can't get any documents without paying a substantial bribe,” he said. "Besides, death certificates don't really exist there. The country is too chaotic"
Having exhausted his legal recourses, and with his final appeal having been rejected late last year, he now faces deportation at any moment, leaving the Afghan teen tearful and desperate.
“I have no one left in Afghanistan,” he said. “My family has all escaped to Austria, but I can’t join them because I don’t have a passport. What will I do if they fly me back to Kabul? I will have to live on the streets.”
Darrell Esdale who knew Walid and is in the military says: Such a shame I fought in Afghanistan in Helmand against the Taliban so I understand Wallid's situation & frustrations with corruption with the police & militia Government ect" I have met this young man on many occasion's and I am a Pashtu linguist so I enjoy chatting with him in Afghan. I really hope the Home office can step back and look at this situation more clearly as I know he would not have a good future on the streets of Kabul with no family... Morally the UK have a duty of care for this young man now... All the best good luck... FA
Updates
April 5, 2017
Seeing this kind of movement is overwhelming after so many months of doors slamming in our faces. I am exhausted by the fight but knowing so many people see the truth of this situation gives me the strength to keep pushing.
Reached 100 supporters
April 5, 2017
72 Comments
Please allow Walid to stay in the UK. He has worked hard and excelled in circumstances that would have made most people crumble. He deserves to be given a chance in Britain.
He is a contributing member of British society and with his history, Asylum should be automatic. If he goes back he will be killed and the Taliban are growing stronger every day. It should not be up for question.
it would be cruel and dangerous to send him back to a country he doesn't know anymore. he is settled here and contributing in a big way ,learning a trade and paying his way and I see no reason to send him back. this is wrong
He has lived here for years,educated here,no relatives in Afghanistan.We want children from wartorn countries to be accepted here will we do the same yo them when they come of age?.It makes a mockery of the system!!!
What do the Home Office want as proof, then? A decapitated corpse? The extent to which some comfy civil servants in the home office seem willing to hide behind a modern version of "only obeying orders" beggars belief.
Please let this hard working and clearly loved young man stay in this country. I cannot believe that anyone could be so inhumane as to send him back to Afghanistan where his grandfather was beheaded by the Taliban. It makes me truly ashamed to be British.
We should be proud of this lad
Walid is precisely the sort of young man this country needs and should welcome. And it would be entirely inhuman and nonsensical to send him to Afghanistan. That it should even be considered makes me ashamed of my country.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
Please allow Walid to stay in the UK. He has worked hard and excelled in circumstances that would have made most people crumble. He deserves to be given a chance in Britain.