Afghans fleeing the Taliban are being kidnapped and tortured by gangs as they try to cross the border between Iran and Turkey on their way to Europe, a BBC investigation has found. The gangs then send videos of the abuse to the families of migrants being held hostage, demanding a ransom for their release.
Recently, disturbing videos have come to light of Afghan men with chains padlocked around their necks pleading for their release.
“Whoever watches this video, I was kidnapped yesterday, they are demanding $4,000 (£3,200) for each one of us. They beat us day and night non-stop,” says one man, with a bloodied lip.
Another video shows a group of men fully naked, crawling in the snow as someone whips them from behind. “I have family, don’t do this to me; I have a wife and children, have mercy, please,” one man cries, shortly before he is filmed being sexually abused at knifepoint by one of the gangs.
These videos are evidence of a growing criminal enterprise which sees these gangs in Iran kidnap and extort Afghan migrants attempting to flee the Taliban and make their way to Europe. This migration route has been used for decades which has prompted Turkey to erect a wall along its border with Iran. Now, this route is more dangerous than ever.
We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have an ounce of pity for the plight of these men. However, for our own good we have to look at this pragmatically and honestly. Our current government, and no doubt the soon to be incoming Labour one, demand cheap foreign labor. They also fall over themselves to make processing illegal immigrants easier than ever.
All this does is increase the flow of people leaving the third world, crossing through non-third world countries and arriving in the West. This inevitably leads to various gangs preying on the very people we encourage to make these journeys.
We could stop this by merely not making the West as appealing a proposition. Afghanistan is closer to China, Russia and India than it is Bulgaria, the closest European country, but these people choose the West as it’s easy street when they get here.
In regards to us in the West, we are already riddled with guilt over our historical use of cheap foreign labour, be they slaves or those we colonized, so let’s not add to that and help eradicate the plight of these folk.
The Homeland Party would reduce the dependency on cheap foreign labor; this would be the most humanitarian thing to do for all of us.
