A British man has told of his fears for his family who are trapped in Iran after winning the right to reunite in the UK, because the Home Office has appealed against the decision.
After news broke in the early hours of Sunday morning that the US had bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, fears for the safety of the man’s parents and sister, currently stranded in Tehran, are mounting.
The man, whom the Guardian is not naming to protect his family, said: “It breaks my heart knowing the difficulties that my parents and sister are having. The daily worry and coordination to support them all add to a sense of helplessness.
“Since escaping from Afghanistan after the arrival of the Taliban in 2021 my parents have lost their home and community, all their belongings and their careers.”
The man, who has dual Afghan and British citizenship, said he was frantic with worry after his parents said bombs had been exploding around them in the neighbourhood where they were sheltering.
The family tried to come to the UK legally, and were initially refused, but an immigration tribunal ruled that the parents and daughter had a right to family life in the UK with their British son and brother.
However, the Home Office has appealed against the judge’s ruling to a higher court in an attempt to keep the family out of the UK. It is not known when the case will finally be determined and the family fear they are running out of time.
The family cannot be named because the lives of the parents and daughter, currently in Tehran, are in extreme danger. The parents, both in their 60s, opposed the Taliban regime both times it has been in control of Afghanistan.
The father was a doctor who worked with international NGOs and the mother was a teacher who continued to teach Afghan girls in secret during the Taliban’s first rule, which banned girls’ education. She was also a women’s rights activist.
The daughter was close to completing a university degree when the Taliban took over for the second time and was forced to abandon her studies. She is trying to help her parents stay alive in Tehran. Both have serious physical health problems and her mother uses a wheelchair. Both parents suffer from PTSD.
The family had initially escaped from Afghanistan to Russia, where they were granted temporary protection, but when the daughter was given an ultimatum to join Russian forces fighting against Ukraine or face deportation to Afghanistan the family fled again, this time to Iran, one of the few countries granting entry visas to Afghans.
Shortly after they arrived, hostilities between Iran and Israel increased.
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According to government data in 2024, Afghans were the largest nationality group crossing the Channel, making up 17% of the 35,359, more than 6,000 people. The next biggest nationality groups were Syrians, Iranians, Vietnamese and Eritreans.
The UK government granted entry to more than 30,000 Afghans in two resettlement schemes set up after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 but the schemes have been criticised for their narrow scope and slow pace of decision-making.
The family’s solicitor, Diana Baxter at Wesley Gryk, said: “This is a stark example of what happens when refugees try to seek ‘safe and legal routes’ to come to the UK. This family have ended up living in dire conditions initially in Russia and now in Iran. The Home Office has the power to grant the family entry to the UK but it is choosing not to do so.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”
Home Office sources said that between 2010 and December 2024, the UK resettled more than 35,000 individuals under UNHCR resettlement schemes, the sixth largest number in the world after the US, Canada, Australia, Germany and Sweden.