Family that fled Taliban housed by charity in Cork

An Afghan family, forced to flee the Taliban for working to empower women and girls, was two weeks from homelessness in Cork City but have been saved by an offer of accommodation from the Irish Red Cross.

Six months ago, Samira Naderi and her husband Mohammed Hamed Naderi were in hiding in Afghanistan with their infant son Mohmmed Zahed. Naderi, marked for death by the Taliban and forced three times to flee from one safe house to the next, constantly waiting for a knock on the door.

Samira, a biology and mathematics teacher, was wanted for the crime of teaching science to girls whilst being a woman, while Hamed was wanted for the crimes of working with the Afghan Women’s Network and promoting equality for women.

When the US withdrew from Afghanistan and the country fell to the Taliban last August, Samira and Hamed had gone into hiding, and their families were told the couple would be executed if they were captured.

Ms Naderi told The Echo that during those long months they lived in constant fear that they would be betrayed.

“We could never relax, because always we knew that there is somebody who is coming to kill us,” she said, adding that their two-year-old son Zahed is still very affected by his memories of that time.

Her husband, Hamed, added that their work promoting the education of women made them particularly valuable targets for the Taliban.

“We worked for the empowerment of Afghan women, we worked to bring equality and balance between men and women in Afghanistan, working for girls, to open for them schools so can they can have education, and for this the Taliban would kill us,” Hamed said.

With the help of friends in Cork who mounted a successful campaign to lobby Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and his department to help secure visas for Samira, Hamed, and Zahed, and a place on the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, the family was able to move to Ireland in February.

Once they arrived here, the Naderi family stayed with a host family in Cork until the start of June, when they had to move out, and they then joined their friend and fellow Afghan refugee Mansoor Jalalzai in shared student accommodation in the centre of Cork City.

Mr Jalazai had come to Ireland last October, similarly targeted by the Taliban, in his case for his work in the Afghan Supreme Court prosecuting those who were considered terrorists until the US pulled out of the country.

The Naderis and Mr Jalazai have been told they must move out of their shared home by the end of July, because their accommodation will be needed to house students returning to college in August.

They had applied for viewings of many houses but said they were unable to even secure a viewing of a property, and they say they have also been in contact with Cork City Council, as well as Threshold and other housing charities, but to no avail.

Both of the Naderis have applied for college courses, and Mr Naderi said he is willing to take on any available work. “I would do anything to help and support my family, I will do any work,” Mr Naderi said. Mr Jalazai is already in full-time employment.

Their friend, St Luke’s native Una Chambers, told The Echo that the Naderi family and Mr Jalazai were in need of a house, and are entitled to the Housing Assistance Payment and were willing to pay any excess. She said she was happy to go guarantor on any rental agreement.

The offer of a home by the Irish Red Cross will now see them move into a three-bed home in Cobh.

Ms Naderi said she and her husband would be forever grateful to their Irish friends who had rescued them.

“This is the farthest we have ever been from our home country,” Ms Naderi said.