UAE

Stranded at Dubai Airport: Wasfi Jarad moved to Terminal 1 until a country will accept him

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Syrian offered food and a place to sleep at the deportation area at the airport

Dubai: The Syrian court deportee, Wasfi Tayseer Jarad, 34, who has been stuck at the airport for the past 20 days, has been moved to Terminal 1 where the airport security will take care of him until he can find a country to accept him.

Jarad refused to go back to his war-torn country Syria fearing for his own safety while the consulate of his country refused to issue him a valid passport to travel to a third country.

The Dubai Police human rights department and the General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs in Dubai are both working to find a solution to Jarad’s case, police told Gulf News.

“Jarad, who was at the Terminal 2 departure lounge, is being moved to the deportation area of Terminal 1, where he will stay until the authority can find a solution to his case,” a source from the police told Gulf News.

“We are offering him food and a place to sleep at the deportation area at the airport,” police said.
Jarad told police that he cannot go to his home country as he fears for his life.

“We cannot send him back to his home country due to the conflict over there, while Jarad is blacklisted from entering several countries. Even if he gets a valid passport, Syrian nationals need to obtain a visa in advance before entering a foreign country,” police said.

“We hope that the human rights department will sort out the issue of Jarad as soon as possible but for the time-being he will stay at the deportation area at the airport,” he said.

Police did not say when Jarad’s case is expected to be sorted out. The official added that police hope that any country will accept Jarad on humanitarian grounds.
Jarad was a truck driver and was arrested in 2010 when authority found drugs in the truck he was driving.
Jarad claimed that he knew nothing about the drugs hidden in his truck.
Jarad was handed seven years in jail followed by deportation. Jarad got an early pardon four months ago for memorising the Quran.
Jarad was staying at Terminal 2’s departure lounge for the past 18 days following his release from Dubai Central Jail before police moved him on Saturday to the deportation area at Terminal 1. Jarad said that he slept on chairs and people used to give him money and food.

Jarad’s ordeal stared when the Syrian Consulate in Dubai refused a Dubai Police mediation to renew his passport which had expired while he was serving his sentence.

“Instead of renewing the passport, the Syrian Consulate cancelled the document and issued an outpass which allowed me to travel to my country,” Jarad said.

“My brother who lives in Dubai booked me a ticket to Jordan, where I was denied entry when I arrived there. The immigration there informed me that I was blacklisted and cannot enter Jordan. They deported me to Dubai on the same flight,” Jarad said.

He added that he booked another ticket to Lebanon and was denied entry again on his arrival at Beirut airport. “I booked another flight to Turkey and the same thing happened,” said Jarad.

Jarad cannot enter the UAE as he has to be deported due to his sentence in the drug case and he also has no passport with him. He is from the southern Syrian city of Daraa, where heavy fighting is going on between the government forces and the opposition, He said he knows he will not be safe if he goes back to his country.

“Currently, no country wants to receive me because I’m Syrian and because I have no passport. I hope someone will give me a helping hand,” he said.

“I’m barred from entering three countries because I have no passport and also no country will let me in with my outpass,” Jarad said.

“I have no clue what to do. My family fled Syria to Al Zatary refugee camp in Jordan,” he said.He added that he wishes to be reunited with his family as soon as possible. “I totally refuse to go back to Syria because I’m sure I will be killed,” he said.

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