Souad Al - Jazairy left Iraq in 1978 after her name was included on a list of writers and journalists sentenced to death for opposing the regime of Saddam Hussein. In London she continues to work in the media, with a particular focus on producing programmes on women's rights.
When we arrived on 11th January 90, and it was the first time a seek political asylum, I didn't know what was political asylum, and I was under the impression that when we present ourselves as asylum seekers, we would be treated cruelly, and violently, and I was scared that they might kick us out, and I had two children 4 and 6 years old with me and I was very scared. I felt that I was going through an unknown and dark fate and that how It was, dark and unknown. But the thing that I would never forget is the hospitality that they received us with, the British people, they considered us first of all as a family with children.
We had no Iraqi passport, we bought a false Bahraini passport, the whole family had only one passport, and we told them we are an Iraqi family, and we are seeking asylum, and we told them that our passport is false, so they started their procedures and they treated us politely,
I was surprised because I thought it would be like Iraq, and that there was violence only, especially in security stuff, it was in the immigration department,
so sat with my children on some seats, and my husband was following the regulations, so my daughter moved and touched some wires, and some equipment fell down from the table of the officer, and he neglected all his papers and took care of the girl, I thought we would be punished for this, and we would be refused because she broke the machine,
so as an Iraqi we were always scared, we were scared of everything, especially things related the authority, and I thought we would be treated badly in Britain just because there was an authority,
but I was surprised, he left everything he was doing, and came to check if my child was alright and if we have to call a doctor, so then I started to relax and felt safe. I didn't have this feeling since I left Iraq.
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