When Hussein Haseeb Ahmed died after crossing the Channel, 11 days passed before his wife and seven-year-old daughter learned of his death. Ahmed, 31, died on 19 November, a week after arriving in the UK after a long journey from Kurdistan and being taken to Manston, a Home Office site where initial checks are carried out on small boat arrivals.
People are only supposed to be held there for 24 hours but Ahmed was there for seven days and is believed to have been held there unlawfully. He is confirmed to have had diphtheria but it is not yet known if that was the cause of his death.
His wife, Afan Talib, and daughter, Clara Hussain Hasib, were in their home in Chamchamal in northern Iraq when they received a phone call from the Iraqi consulate in London to inform them Ahmed had died 11 days earlier.
They told the Guardian they could not believe their beloved husband and father was gone and were hoping against hope there had been a mix-up and the man who died was not Ahmed.
Tariq Jaff, Ahmed’s brother-in-law, speaking on behalf of Afan, Clara and all the family, said: “Hussein’s death has been a huge shock, not just for his family but for his friends and neighbours and the whole community. He was healthy when he left Chamchamal. We have been given so little information and without having Hussein’s body back with us we don’t know for sure it’s the right guy. We need answers about what happened to Hussein.
The death is the subject of a coroner’s investigation as well as a separate inquiry by the prisons and probation ombudsman. The family say they have not been informed about these investigations.
The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed there have been at least 50 diphtheria cases this year, 49 of them relating to asylum seekers in Manston in October and November.
According to the inquest, which opened in Kent on 5 December, Ahmed was first taken to hospital two days after arriving in the UK on 14 November, feeling unwell and complaining of a severe sore throat.
His family said that one of the last messages he sent them from northern France was that he was having difficulty swallowing because his throat was so sore.
He was given IV antibiotics at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate and discharged with a seven-day supply of oral antibiotics.
His condition deteriorated and he was taken back to the hospital on 19 November but died soon afterwards after presenting with increasing breathlessness, fever and drowsiness. He went into multi-organ failure and resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. He had initially tested negative for diphtheria but later tested positive with a PCR test.
The family’s priority is to have Ahmed’s body returned to Chamchamal as soon as possible so he can be buried close to his family and his community.
Ahmed made the difficult decision to travel to the UK using smugglers because he wanted to go to “the best country in the world for human rights”, something he said was lacking in Kurdistan.
The family were not well off. They rented their home and Ahmed worked at different jobs including as a hospital cleaner and on a market stall. They sold everything to pay the smugglers for Ahmed’s journey – even their mattress, duvet and pillows. Now Afan and Clara are moving between the homes of Afan’s and Ahmed’s parents.
Jaff said Ahmed travelled from Iraq to Turkey. On 21 October he boarded a boat from Turkey to Italy and is thought to have reached the refugee camp in northern France on 1 November.
On 11 November, Ahmed sent the message from the French camp saying he was struggling to swallow because his throat was so sore. The last time the family heard from him was the following day when he sent a message to say he was crossing. Jaff sent a message back saying “good luck” but Ahmed did not see or respond to the message.
“We don’t know how to deal with our sorrow and until his body is brought back to us we can’t begin to grieve properly,” said Jaff.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts continue to be with Mr Ahmed’s family and all those who have been affected by this loss. The family have been offered support by a Home Office family liaison officer. The postmortem and coronial process is still taking place and we are working to ensure Mr Ahmed’s repatriation to Iraq happens as swiftly as possible.”
