EXCLUSIVE: Khadar Mohamed, 24, from Somalia said he feels ‘persecuted’ after seeking asylum in the UK in and urged protesters to keep in mind that asylum seekers are human
Refugees inside the controversial hotel The Bell have decided to stay indoors for their own safety after the High Court ruling, fearing the anger among protesters will be greater.
Khadar Mohamed, 24, from Somalia said: “The judge has made a good and right decision. I believe that if we were taken from this hotel, these people who are against us would find us and chase us. If we left this hotel, where would we go? If we went into government housing, then these people will say that we are taking their houses.
“None of us support any form of sex attacks or paedophiles or anything like that. All of us have come here for a better life and I have won the right to stay here, yet I’m still feeling persecuted.
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“I would ask that these people who have been protesting remember that we are human and that we are kind and friendly. One sex attack does not mean that we are all bad.
“I went outside at 1 o’clock today, but there was nobody outside. But I don’t think I’ll be going out tonight and maybe stay inside for at least a week with many of the other others. We are living in fear.”
He agreed that being people smuggled into Britain was against international law, but insisted that it served to highlight the desperation of the migrants. Mr Mohamed, who said he had won his claim for political asylum against the Home Office, added: “I want everybody to know that there are no paedophiles and rapists living inside this hotel.
Mr Mohamed fled his village of Elbur in Somalia in 2022 after terrorists took command and ordered him to join their ranks. He said his sister Farxiya was killed by members of Al-Shabaab after she was forced into marriage with a member at the age of 21, but refused to comply with their ideology.
Police have increased their numbers outside the hotel in preparation for any more outspills of public anger. Khadar added: “They were here last night and I believe they will come back more angry now. I don’t like being called a scumbag. I have the right to stay here. These people need to respect the court’s decisions.”
It comes after senior judges overturned an imminent ban on housing asylum seekers at the Essex hotel, which risked plunging the asylum system into chaos. In the bombshell ruling, the Court of Appeal scrapped an injunction that would have forced the 138 migrants living at the Bell Hotel to leave by September 12. The decision marks a victory for the Home Office, which was braced for a flurry of legal challenges from other councils.