Refugees previously eradicated from ‘unfit’ resort where boy fell to his death

Asylum seekers were being previously eradicated from the hotel in which a 5-12 months-outdated Afghan refugee fell to his death from a window simply because it was unfit for refugees to continue to be in, it has been claimed.

Mohammed Munib Majeedi fell from the window of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel in Blonk Avenue at around 2.30pm on Wednesday.

The youngster, who is understood to have arrived in the United kingdom with his family this summertime, fell on to a auto park at the rear of the lodge.

Labour MPs in the metropolis demanded a “full, urgent, unbiased inquiry” right after asylum seekers have been earlier moved out of the accommodation.

Labour shadow frontbencher Louise Haigh, who is also MP for Sheffield Heeley, claimed: “The Household Workplace has a obligation of treatment when positioning asylum seekers of any description, but primarily under their resettlement plan, here in the British isles, and obviously that responsibility of treatment has been at the really the very least undermined, if not breached.”

Ms Haigh and fellow Sheffield MPs Clive Betts (Sheffield South East), Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam), Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central), and Gill Furniss (Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough) have written to House Secretary Priti Patel. They are calling for a “full, urgent, impartial inquiry into the instances that led to Mohammed’s death, but also into the placement of vulnerable refugees in this accommodation”.

She told the PA information agency: “We know that the Residence Place of work put some refugees there final August, in 2020, and then moved them pursuing fears about the suitability of that accommodation.

“So why susceptible people from Afghanistan, involving kids, ended up placed in this lodging once again this year is a quite really serious question that they have to urgently response.”

It is recognized previous considerations experienced been bordering hearth security.

Sheffield City Council confirmed that the Residence Business experienced ceased use of the resort in November.

The House Business office did not deny the claims when approached for remark but claimed: “We are very saddened by the tragic demise of a boy or girl at a lodge in Sheffield. The police are offering assistance to the household even though the investigation carries on and we are supplying lodging and aid.

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“We are unquestionably dedicated to ensuring that Afghan refugees are appropriately accommodated and supported and we are doing the job tricky with regional authorities to supply this.”

Ms Haigh explained the actuality that all remaining people experienced been eliminated from the hotel “demonstrates that they know that is unsafe and unsuitable”.

And she additional: “It’s just totally appalling that the spouse and children experienced fled unimaginable horror in Afghanistan, to arrive to this state searching for protected haven, locate themselves positioned in unsuitable accommodation, and now have to face this tragedy of similarly unimaginable proportions.”

The Refugee Council has also termed for a review of the lodging presented to people fleeing the Taliban next the tragedy.

A spokesman for the Afghan Community Association in Sheffield mentioned: “Whether it was a slip-up or one thing, I really don’t know, but what happened is not appropriate at all.”

Liberal Democrat peer and previous leader of Sheffield City Council, Lord Scriven, stated officers needed to “take a very long appear at themselves” about what had absent mistaken.

He informed PA: “These refugees are fleeing from some of the most horrendous and traumatic activities a person could at any time start to think about. So why on earth the Property Office environment thinks it is satisfactory to set them into a resort that they’ve presently withdrawn prior susceptible individuals from, is jaw-dropping.

“The council ought to not have stayed silent about this, but should really have manufactured it extremely clear on our soil, in Sheffield, as the initial town of sanctuary, this wasn’t very good enough.

“Senior officers and the Residence Secretary need to have to get a very long glimpse at by themselves in the mirror tonight and issue their conscience as to why they experience it was suitable.”

Witnesses stated the boy’s father had labored in the British Embassy in Kabul.

He said the family came to the Uk a few or four weeks in the past, landing at Birmingham Airport, then being in Manchester in the course of quarantine for Covid.

The family, which include the moms and dads and three boys and two ladies, then moved to the hotel in Sheffield in the previous 7 days.