“Surviving 3 Taliban bombardments before seeking refuge in Ireland“: So would you really turn away a man of courage like Saeed?
DUBLIN, June 11, 2024 - Saeedullah Safi is just 24 but has the heart of a lion. Already in the journalist’s short life, being an influencer, sports journalist and AIPS Young Reporter he’s been in three explosions, watched colleagues die and has been exiled to a foreign land. Now Ireland is his land. When I met Saeed last week, he made an impression on me that will last for decades.
SURVIVING BOMBARDMENT Already an accomplished journalist, he was a news and sports reporter in Afghanistan. We share a love of cricket. On one level, this Afghan reporter doesn’t want to be in Dublin; on another, he is immensely grateful he is here. His new life in Ireland is born of necessity. The most serious explosion Saeed has survived was in 2018 when co-ordinated suicide bombings struck Kabul. The second Islamic State bomber targeted the group of reporters who had gathered to report on the first blast.
AIPS RESCUE Nine journalists were killed; Saeed was among the 20 injured. When the Taliban seized control following the US withdrawal three years later, they made threats to him. With the help of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), he fled to Pakistan. Fearing the Pakistani government would deport him to Afghanistan, as has happened to hundreds of thousands of his compatriots, he applied for visas to France, the UK, the US and Canada, but “they were not helpful”, he said. Ireland accepted him as a refugee. Eight charitable Irish people voluntarily support him and his wife Salma Niazi, a fellow journalist, to live in Dublin.
LAUNCHING "THE AFGHAN TIMES" The couple are expecting a child in October. Saeed has been here four months, and his arrival coincided with ferocious anti-immigrant sentiment, but he loves Ireland, describing the people as the best in the world. Yet his contentment is imperfect: “I still miss my family, especially my mum. It’s been five years since I have spent time with my family.” Like so many refugees, he yearns to one day return to his homeland when that is possible. But rather than forgetting his people, Saeed and his wife set up The Afghan Times, a digital newspaper that reports the truth of Taliban rule. In exile, he works with correspondents in Afghanistan who write under pseudonyms. He wants to improve as a journalist in Ireland and make The Afghan Times the main news source for Afghanistan.
POLYGLOT English is Saeed’s fifth language, yet his written English is elegant and he has a penetrating eye for a story. Consider this introduction to an article he published in The Diplomat, an Asia-Pacific current affairs magazine: “Maqsooda and her daughters now drink as little water as possible during the day. They prefer to spend hours in discomfort rather than be forced to relieve themselves where they can be seen.”
SUFFERING OF AFGHAN WOMEN The article — which like much of Saeed’s work focuses on the cruelty to Afghan women — went on to tell how serious flooding in Afghanistan has destroyed village toilets, with women preferring thirst in the blazing heat than the prospect of urinating in the open in daylight. Men have priority access to what toilets are available, and women aren’t allowed to share the men’s facilities. We take for granted that the only constraint on such stories being freely reported is the capacity of the media to do so.
SACRIFICE FOR JOURNALISM But in Afghanistan, defying the regime could be deadly. Reporters Without Borders ranks Afghanistan 178 out of 180 countries for media freedom. “I’m in love with my profession,” he said. So am I, but I’m not sure my love would withstand three bombs, exile and learning another language to move to a far-off land. We need to be able to debate migration more openly than we do without simply labelling all those concerned about migration as racists. Not all migrants are refugees. But only the most bigoted could do anything but salute the high courage of people like Saeed. Just as the “fling open the borders” voices fail to engage with the problems that would mean for lots of already struggling people, so the “Ireland is full” voices fail to engage with the human impact of refusing sanctuary.
ANTI-MIGRATION CAMPAIGNS Would those people really turn away a man of courage and conviction like Saeed when that might mean death? Never forget the horrors from which many of them have fled Every week I play football with friends in a part of Belfast that has been transformed for the better by immigration. A place that would have been dangerous and foreboding during the Troubles is alive with the colour of African cloth and the smells of spices from once-derelict shops that are now thriving.
IMMIGRATION NEGATIVE IMPACT Yet I’ve always had empathy for those who experienced the negative impact of migration. It was easy for me as a journalist to be relaxed about newcomers when Polish or Lithuanian workers were coming to paint, work in meat factories or wash cars. They weren’t coming to be political journalists. If I were a plumber or joiner I might have had a different view. Meeting Saeed and hearing his story changed that. But it hasn’t changed my perspective. If we can only consider self-interest when fellow human beings are facing torture or death, then our humanity has been extinguished. Of all the peoples of the world, we should have an instinctive appreciation of the kindness of strangers, far from home. We’re fortunate now to live in a land of milk and honey to which others want to come.
We can’t take them all, and the Government needs to make provisions for those who arrive. But we should never forget the horrors from which many of these people have fled. And if you see the name Saeedullah Safi, read what he writes.
SURVIVING BOMBARDMENT Already an accomplished journalist, he was a news and sports reporter in Afghanistan. We share a love of cricket. On one level, this Afghan reporter doesn’t want to be in Dublin; on another, he is immensely grateful he is here. His new life in Ireland is born of necessity. The most serious explosion Saeed has survived was in 2018 when co-ordinated suicide bombings struck Kabul. The second Islamic State bomber targeted the group of reporters who had gathered to report on the first blast.
AIPS RESCUE Nine journalists were killed; Saeed was among the 20 injured. When the Taliban seized control following the US withdrawal three years later, they made threats to him. With the help of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), he fled to Pakistan. Fearing the Pakistani government would deport him to Afghanistan, as has happened to hundreds of thousands of his compatriots, he applied for visas to France, the UK, the US and Canada, but “they were not helpful”, he said. Ireland accepted him as a refugee. Eight charitable Irish people voluntarily support him and his wife Salma Niazi, a fellow journalist, to live in Dublin.
LAUNCHING "THE AFGHAN TIMES" The couple are expecting a child in October. Saeed has been here four months, and his arrival coincided with ferocious anti-immigrant sentiment, but he loves Ireland, describing the people as the best in the world. Yet his contentment is imperfect: “I still miss my family, especially my mum. It’s been five years since I have spent time with my family.” Like so many refugees, he yearns to one day return to his homeland when that is possible. But rather than forgetting his people, Saeed and his wife set up The Afghan Times, a digital newspaper that reports the truth of Taliban rule. In exile, he works with correspondents in Afghanistan who write under pseudonyms. He wants to improve as a journalist in Ireland and make The Afghan Times the main news source for Afghanistan.
POLYGLOT English is Saeed’s fifth language, yet his written English is elegant and he has a penetrating eye for a story. Consider this introduction to an article he published in The Diplomat, an Asia-Pacific current affairs magazine: “Maqsooda and her daughters now drink as little water as possible during the day. They prefer to spend hours in discomfort rather than be forced to relieve themselves where they can be seen.”
SUFFERING OF AFGHAN WOMEN The article — which like much of Saeed’s work focuses on the cruelty to Afghan women — went on to tell how serious flooding in Afghanistan has destroyed village toilets, with women preferring thirst in the blazing heat than the prospect of urinating in the open in daylight. Men have priority access to what toilets are available, and women aren’t allowed to share the men’s facilities. We take for granted that the only constraint on such stories being freely reported is the capacity of the media to do so.
SACRIFICE FOR JOURNALISM But in Afghanistan, defying the regime could be deadly. Reporters Without Borders ranks Afghanistan 178 out of 180 countries for media freedom. “I’m in love with my profession,” he said. So am I, but I’m not sure my love would withstand three bombs, exile and learning another language to move to a far-off land. We need to be able to debate migration more openly than we do without simply labelling all those concerned about migration as racists. Not all migrants are refugees. But only the most bigoted could do anything but salute the high courage of people like Saeed. Just as the “fling open the borders” voices fail to engage with the problems that would mean for lots of already struggling people, so the “Ireland is full” voices fail to engage with the human impact of refusing sanctuary.
ANTI-MIGRATION CAMPAIGNS Would those people really turn away a man of courage and conviction like Saeed when that might mean death? Never forget the horrors from which many of them have fled Every week I play football with friends in a part of Belfast that has been transformed for the better by immigration. A place that would have been dangerous and foreboding during the Troubles is alive with the colour of African cloth and the smells of spices from once-derelict shops that are now thriving.
IMMIGRATION NEGATIVE IMPACT Yet I’ve always had empathy for those who experienced the negative impact of migration. It was easy for me as a journalist to be relaxed about newcomers when Polish or Lithuanian workers were coming to paint, work in meat factories or wash cars. They weren’t coming to be political journalists. If I were a plumber or joiner I might have had a different view. Meeting Saeed and hearing his story changed that. But it hasn’t changed my perspective. If we can only consider self-interest when fellow human beings are facing torture or death, then our humanity has been extinguished. Of all the peoples of the world, we should have an instinctive appreciation of the kindness of strangers, far from home. We’re fortunate now to live in a land of milk and honey to which others want to come.
We can’t take them all, and the Government needs to make provisions for those who arrive. But we should never forget the horrors from which many of these people have fled. And if you see the name Saeedullah Safi, read what he writes.
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