“Crying so much, she didn’t know what was going to happen and it was hard for me to deal with it.”

The respondent, a man from Syria aged 45-65, was reportedly on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea near Athens when he was apprehended by the Hellenic Coast Guard on a morning between July and December 2022. The respondent was part of a transit group that consisted of him, his 17-year-old daughter and approximately 120 other people, including women, children and old people from Afghanistan, Egypt, Palestine and Syria. The transit group was reportedly brought to Rafina Port on mainland Greece and later transferred to Malakasa Reception and Identification Centre (RIC). The respondent and his daughter reportedly stayed at Malakasa RIC for 22 days. 

The respondent reported that the transit group was on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea near Athens, when in the morning on a day between July and  December 2022 they had to call SOS because of a problem with the boat. The group was reportedly rescued by a cargo ship which then called for further assistance. The respondent explained that at approximately 8am in the morning, a big grey boat with Greek letters and signs on it arrived at the cargo ship. The respondent recalled  that there were men “wearing blue uniforms and [...] balaclavas” on the grey boat and then identified that these uniforms were identical to those worn by officers working at the police office at Rafina Port. The group was reportedly told to put all their phones and belongings in bags and was ordered to get on the grey boat. On this boat, the respondent noted that they were told to split up into two groups, with women on one side of the boat and men on the other. Even though the daughter of the respondent was aged 17, the respondent reported that she had to go with the women on the other side of the boat. The respondent further described how his daughter was “crying so much, she didn’t know what was going to happen and it was hard for me to deal with it.” 

The respondent then described how the transit group was on the deck of the boat for the whole day, from approximately 8am until they reached a port at around 7pm. The respondent described the port as Rafina Port and located it on maps. During this time, the treatment by the officers on the boat was reportedly very violent. The respondent could not recall how many officers were present on the boat, because the members of the transit group were reportedly told to keep their heads down throughout the whole day. The respondent reported that the officers threatened them by saying “if you raise your head and try to look at [us][...] they will give you the ultimate experience of violence”. Reportedly, this kind of violence was inflicted on four to five people on the boat by the officers using “mainly their hands''. The respondent reported  that he on one occasion raised his head and subsequently “one of the army officers came and told [me] if you don’t put your head down I will do the same things [to you]”. During their time on the boat, the transit group was reportedly not given any water by the officers.

According to the respondent, the ‘officers’ were speaking Greek to one another but were also able to speak English. He noted that there was one woman from Egypt and one man from Afghanistan in the transit group who spoke English as well, so the ‘officers’ were able to communicate with them. 

The respondent reported that they reached Rafina Port, a big port for merchandise, at around 7pm where the transit group had to go to a police office. The respondent noted that the treatment by the officers changed once they reached Rafina Port. He explained that the same people wearing blue uniforms and balaclavas were nice to them at Rafina Port which, in his opinion, was “because the Red Cross was waiting in that port”. 

The transit group was reportedly transferred to the police office and then to a building located approximately 500 metres from the office, where they were told to go to a room which the respondent described as approximately 40 square metres in size. There, the transit group was reportedly given water and food. Afterwards, the transit group was reportedly brought to another office, where each member of the group was asked to give their name, nationality, age and documents to the ‘officers’. The respondent explained that members of the transit group who did not possess documents were just asked about their nationality. Reportedly, members of the transit group were not asked to give their fingerprints and they were given back their backpacks and all their other personal belongings except for their phones, which they were only given back after staying four days at Malakasa RIC. According to the respondent, the transit group stayed in this office until around 3:30 am when they were transferred back to the 40 square metre sized room. Here, the group was reportedly provided with blankets for the night and breakfast in the morning. 

The respondent reported that four large vehicles arrived at around 3 pm. He explained that two of the vehicles were white without any signs on them and seats inside. The respondent stated that the other two vehicles to him were green and “quite old”. These vehicles appeared to be army vehicles and they reportedly had cells inside. The respondent reported that the transit group was again split up into two groups. The women had to go on the two white vehicles and the men on the other two vehicles with the cells inside. The drive reportedly took between one hour and a half and two hours until the transit group reached a camp which the respondent identified as Malakasa RIC. 

At Malakasa camp the transit group was reportedly held in containers and told to stay there until further notice. The respondent reported that there were two translators present, one Arabic and one Farsi translator, who explained to the transit group that “you will probably stay for a week here ‘till the people who came before you leave, then we will see what’s next with you”. The respondent reported that they arrived on a Friday and that it was quiet at the camp during the weekend. He stated that on Monday, “the director of the camp came back with a translator and he said whoever will not apply for asylum will not get out of this camp”. 

The respondent reported that there was a woman from UNHCR working in the camp every Tuesday and Thursday with a translator. The respondent noted that he asked the woman from UNHCR if he would get out of Malakasa RIC with a lawyer. Her response reportedly was:  “it’s really useless to do it unless you want to waste your money. But it’s up to you”. The respondent explained that he and his daughter did not want to apply for asylum because his daughter had cardiac problems and he could not stay in Greece because “Greece doesn’t have the hospitals or the accessibility for this so that's why I was hurrying to take her somewhere else”. The woman from UNHCR reportedly told them that the authorities “have the right to keep you for 180 days. She said that there is no way you’re getting out”, if they don’t apply for asylum. She reportedly added that they have the right to get a free lawyer and provided them with the e-mail address of the lawyer. Furthermore, the woman from UNHCR reportedly explained to the respondent that there were so many people in the camp who had arrived before the transit group and the camp had to sort them out first before the case of the transit group could be looked into. 

The respondent reported that the “camp is very big and it is split in three sections and the section that I was in was very full”. He reportedly did not remember if there were cameras in the camp. 

The respondent explained that there were two rooms in each container and a shared toilet. He reportedly stayed in one room together with his daughter and in the other room there was a family with two children who were four and five-years-old. According to the respondent, there were enough beds for all members of the transit group. Furthermore, they were given hygiene products such as shampoo and shower gel for personal hygiene, and cleaning tools to clean their container. So in his point of view the hygiene in the camp is “really up to you”. The respondent reported that they were given three meals a day and as much water as they needed.

The respondent stated that there was the possibility to order food from outside the camp. But the food that was brought in from the outside reportedly was “not very good. It is not something that you could eat”. The respondent noted that there was a doctor in the camp from 12 pm until 3 pm who worked together with a translator, so it was “very easy to communicate” and to get medical assistance.

Reportedly, after 22 days at Malakasa camp, the respondent and his daughter applied for asylum. The respondent explained this decision by stating that he saw a man in the camp who did not want to apply for asylum and so “they just made him stay in the camp and we got out before him”. According to the respondent, he and his daughter had to give their fingerprints and sign two documents, “One paper for asylum seeking and the other paper is for criminal fingerprints, criminal records”. Afterwards the respondent and his daughter reportedly had to wait in the camp for two days until they had their first asylum interview, were given Asylum Seekers Card (ASC) and were allowed to leave the camp. 

During the testimony the respondent emphasised that “I got out after that [applying for asylum], but very importantly I got out as they wanted, not as I wanted. Because they forcibly made me apply for asylum which I didn’t want to”.