A judge has commended the Bury Times for a series of articles that highlighted the plight of a journalist who fled from Iraq to escape terror threats.

Mohamad Star Saeed (26) is now allowed to stay in Bury after a judge ruled against the Home Office in a remarkable story.

Kidnapped

Saeed

In May the same year, his friend Saman Adullah was executed by gunman, a short time later another colleague was assassinated.

Last August Al Qaeda in Iraq kidnapped his 12 year old brother, Bilal, who’s still missing and feared dead.

In a phone call and on a CD, the terrorist group ordered Mohamad to help them kidnap the daughter of the local mayor, Payam Rahman, who was a family friend.

Mohamad hid the instruction from his family, until his sisters Sara and Payam discovered the audio clip.

Mafia

Scared the terrorists or the mayor would seek reprisals, Mohamad paid the mafia £3,000 to escape to England.

The Home Office said the story was “incredible” and rejected his asylum request.

Dale Haslam from Bury Times heard about the story through a contact and followed it up.

“What impressed me about him immediately was how sharply he was dressed and how organised he was. As a journalist himself, he knew the importance of documentation and evidence in putting his case forward to the paper.

“Having listened to his story, I decided to take it to my news editor Steve Orrell and editor Carla Flynn, who agreed that it was very possible he could have been done a disservice by the Home Office and that we should put his case forward.

“For me personally, I straight away sympathised with Mohamad's plight: I am the same age and do the same job - our roles could easily be reversed, with my life at stake.”

Bravery 

With support from the NUJ and refugee charities, Mohamad’s case was further boosted. In court the Times was used as evidence, with praise coming from Judge Fountain.

The Home Office was forced to conceded defeat when the ruling was made that Mohamad could remain in the UK for at least 5 years.

“Our newspaper remained impartial in print throughout the case, paving the way for the NUJ to be more partisan,” explained Haslam.

“And while we all had our role to play in ensuring Mohamad would not be sent to his death, it was he himself who has shown tremendous bravery, courage and conviction throughout the case to fight one of the UK's biggest institutions.”

For more on the story, click here

 (Photo credit: Paul Gardner)

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