Gaza to Stoke: Asylum Seeker's 13 MONTH wait for a Home Office answer...
Apr 12, 2017, 03:31 PM
(Broadcast on BBC Radio Stoke, April 2017)
A man who fled war-torn Gaza as a refugee on a journey ending in Stoke-on-Trent six years ago says he's been waiting THIRTEEN MONTHS for an answer from the Home Office on his application to stay in the UK.
That's more than double the government's target response time.
47-year-old Palestinian HASSAN ELYAN told BBC Radio Stoke that he's tried to take his own life several times in desperation as he waits for a response on his asylum claim.
He acts as a chef at the Sanctus charity at St Mark's Church in Shelton, where he met our Political Reporter EMMA THOMAS...
(A Home Office spokesperson says the government aims to decide 98 per cent of asylum claims within six months.)