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A campaign by The Independent to allow a hero Afghan pilot who served alongside British forces in Afghanistan to rebuild his life with his family in the UK has finally been won.
The air force lieutenant, who fled the Taliban and came to Britain on a small boat because it was “impossible” to get here via a legal route, was refused asylum under the government’s Afghan resettlement scheme – sparking fury from top politicians and military figures who called it “shameful” that the country should turn its back on the war hero.
Massud* was finally granted permission to remain in the UK in August 2023 but it was a bittersweet victory as his wife and toddler daughter remained stranded in Iran.
But after a long-running campaign by this newspaper the family is now reunited, after his wife Zahra* and three-year-old daughter Maryam* were finally granted the right to live in the UK earlier this month.
The Independent met the family as they tentatively begin to rebuild their lives after years of separation, never knowing if they would be able to see each other again.
‘Maybe I am in a dream?’
Massud was apprehensive when he arrived at the airport to meet his family off a late flight from Dubai. He had been waiting for this moment for over two years – hopeful but not believing that it would ever come.
The last time he had seen his baby daughter Maryam she hadn’t been able to speak. Though he’d tried to call her and his wife Zahra in Afghanistan as regularly as the weak internet would allow, he was nervous his three-year-old wouldn’t recognise him at the airport gate.
But when she finally ran excitedly into his arms, his fears were allayed. Describing the moment, he said: “I couldn’t stop grinning and smiling. I was thinking, maybe I am in a dream.”
A pilot in the Afghan air force, who served alongside British and Nato forces before the Taliban takeover, Massud had fled the totalitarian regime with his family in August 2021. They made it to Iran, but when their Iranian visas ran out, the family made the heartbreaking decision to split up for their own safety.
Massud had been told by the Iranian authorities that he had only two choices; join their army or be deported back to the hands of the Taliban.
In February 2022, he chose a third – to leave Iran and begin a perilous journey that would ultimately lead him to the UK. A country in which he hoped his former service would be recognised. Now, finally waiting at the airport arrivals gate, he had achieved more than he could have hoped for.
But the journey to this moment was not smooth; the British government initially threatened to deport him to Rwanda, but following a long-running campaign by The Independent he is now a recognised refugee with the right to live in the UK.
He has successfully secured a job and a kind-hearted family has welcomed them into their home to give his family the security of a place to live.
Speaking around the table of their new home, Massud explained his nervousness: “I was worried. We were talking sometimes but not every day because the internet was not working. When she had been playing with other children in Afghanistan, she was arguing with them saying that their dad was her dad. Now she is saying: ‘I have a dad now.’ It has made my family laugh. It’s become a joke.”
Recalling the moment the family were reunited, Massud said: “I couldn’t stop grinning and smiling. I was thinking, maybe I am in a dream. It was a fantastic time. My daughter was very happy. I saw them before they saw me and I could hear her saying, ‘Where is my father?’ My wife said to her, ‘Here is your dad,’ and we met each other very nicely.”
The family had been back together again for just over a week by the time The Independent met up with them. They have been taken in by a host through the charity Refugees at Home – a retired great-aunt who is thrilled to have a new-found friendship with the family.
Deflecting any talk of generosity on her behalf, the family’s host is quick to state that it is she who has benefited the most from having her home full of the happiness of a young family. The large terraced house is in a leafy suburb and the living room opens out into a garden full of well-tended flower pots.
As teas are handed out, Massud described their tentative re-entry into family life. Initially, Maryam would speak to him very politely, but in recent days she had become much more cheeky, he said.
Maryam, who wore two pink and yellow butterfly clips in her hair, chatted away to herself in Farsi. Massud had been amused to find out that she speaks Farsi with an Iranian accent.
She played with the playdough which had been brought by Care 4 Calais case worker, and now firm friend of the family, Charlotte Khan.
On her tiny white blouse was a large sticker, which read “I met the Met”, a memento from meeting some officers on their trip into London the day before to see the London Eye. Massud had taken them to visit tourist attractions including Buckingham Palace and Big Ben as a welcome to the UK treat.
Maryam would intermittently tap the sticker and say “police”, one of the English words she had already picked up after only a few days in the country. She repeated her two other acquired words – hello and goodbye – as she opened and closed different pots of coloured playdough, which she was using to make flowers on the living room table.
For Zahra, who was dressed in a floaty white shirt and grey jeans with Minnie Mouse details, settling into new surroundings has been more overwhelming. When I asked how she was finding the UK so far, she said: “I am completely new. Everything is confusing.”
Speaking through her husband’s interpretation, she was hopeful about her future. She said: “I am so happy that we can start our new life again. I was alone in Iran. I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I am so happy that we can start again and join together.”
Zahra, who was a midwife before the Taliban takeover, said her first hope was to learn English so she could do that work again. “I don’t know much about the UK. I don’t know about the systems or how things work. But I’ve heard that the people are free here, that they can work and they can study whatever they want.
“No one is scared. The Taliban have closed the schools for women, but here anyone can choose anything that they want to study. No one can stop them doing anything. I heard these things,” she explained.
As Massud recounted how the couple would argue over the phone about whether she would ever make it to the UK, she laughed along – able now to see the funny side of a desperate situation.
Zahra and Maryam had been living a secluded existence in Iran for the past seven months; changing between the home of a cousin and friends who agreed to put them up.
There were times – as they waited for their family reunification visa – when Massud was seriously worried about her, he confided. “She was not well. I was worried that if the situation continued I would see bad things. She was saying: ‘What sort of life is this? Maryam is the only reason I am alive. We haven’t seen any happiness.’
“It was very difficult for me because I could not do anything. I kept telling her that I’m not in a position to issue a visa. The help from charities and the media gave her hope. It was helpful to keep her calm and give her motivation. I would send her the screenshots of the news (The Independent) to show her that some people were trying to help us, but it was not easy.”
It was not easy to stay hopeful in the UK either. When Massud arrived in the UK on a small boat in the winter of 2022, he was quickly threatened with removal to Rwanda by the Home Office.
After he finally achieved refugee status just under a year later, he experienced the cliff-edge of support that every asylum seeker does when they get settled status and the Home Office evicts them from their hotel.
Through a combination of Care 4 Calais’s help and the generosity of The Independent’s readers, the family can now build a safe life in the UK.
There are many things that they will need to sort out – finding a local nursery, getting registered with the GP, signing up for English classes. But so far they’ve been getting used to being finally together again.
For Charlotte, who has been supporting Massud since he first came to the UK, it is a dream come true. She said: “What a privilege it’s been to stand beside this brave man while he sought safety for his family. Over each hurdle – threat of removal to Rwanda, the lengthy and complex asylum process, finding work and risk of homelessness – the hope and sheer determination he has shown, like many others we meet, has been courageous and inspiring. All families deserve this opportunity.”
After the interview, the family headed to the nearby park, which has already become a favourite activity for young Maryam. As she ran to the children’s play area, arms outstretched, she shouted something in Farsi. I asked Massud what she had said and he replied: “She shouted, ‘I want to live here.’”
*Names have been changed to protect the family’s identity.
