Press Release
13/11/2015
UK aid worker in Greece pleads for burial of bodies of Syrian refugees
Yorkshire-based UK lawyer Yasin Din, volunteering with Oldham-based GreenGate Trust on the Greek island of Mytilene to help refugees, appeals to the UK and wider international community to pressure Greek authorities to provide them with a suitable place for burial for an estimated 70 bodies of Syrian refugees who did not survive the perilous sea journey between Turkey and Greece.
Yasin appears in a video along with Moustafa , a Greek resident of Egyptian origin, as well as Zahir, a Syrian refugee from Damascus suburbs. Yasin relays in the video that there are an estimated seventy bodies currently held in a morgue. Greek authorities, he says, claim that there is no land in which these bodies can be buried and are hence refusing to release the bodies.
Din says, 'It's very very important for anybody to have closure in their life to be able to bury those that they have loved'.
Moustafa, a translator by profession, found himself doing much more than translation work while volunteering. He says in the video, 'most [refugees] just came fleeing from death, but unfortunately they found death here in Europe'. He appealed to viewers that 'the minimum thing that we can give to them – as humanity, as mankind, as the world, as governments, as individuals, and as people – is to preserve their dignity and bury them.' Moustafa also voiced his frustration with the unresponsiveness of the Greek authorities, saying, 'for the past month, every day we talk to the Government, we say give us coffins, we'll buy them with our money, we'll donate, we'll buy a place to bury our dead. But our calls fall on deaf ears.'
Zahir, a Syrian refugee appearing with them in the video, reached the safety of Greek shores on 28 October but many of his family members did not, including his brother, his brother's wife, and his brother's children. The bodies of his family members are still in the morgue. He cried for help, saying 'help us, we are tired. My brother, five years I didn't see him, and I came and I found him dead'. He said, 'I appeal to everyone to help us in burying our loved ones, we don't want anything except to bury them'.
We are calling upon European nations to call upon Greek authorities to:
• Identify the maintain respect for the dead.
• Try and ascertain the cause of death and duly record it.
• Offer or make available a safe and dignified place of burial.
• Arrange with local aid workers to allow for traditional rituals in burial.
Yasin, Moustafa, and Zahir are available for interview.
ENDS
For further information and press enquiries, please contact advocacy@rrsoc.org or at 07769704656, or contact Yasin Din directly at 07714228033.
Rethink Rebuild Society has established itself as a non-profit organisation that acts as an umbrella for the Syrian community in Manchester, and endeavours to clarify the Syrian cause to its audience in the UK and the wider public.
