“all of them were racist, they were using very bad words with us, they were not respecting us and also sometimes they were beating the people who were [detained].”

The respondent is an Iranian national who reported arriving in Greece by plane. Upon his arrival at the airport - he did not specify which airport - he explained being arrested by the Greek police and subsequently detained for two weeks within the airport.

He described the place he was detained in as a building containing 11 cells, with each cell having the capacity to hold 4 to 5 people. He further added: “It was very dark, there was no light.” The respondent reported not being able to take a shower during the two weeks he spent in detention at the airport, and that only one functional toilet was available for nine of the cells in the building, which he described as insufficient. He added that the toilets were located away from his cell which required him to ask for permission from police officers, permission which was reportedly granted only once a day, after detainees had to insist: “when you need to go to the toilet you must ask many times from the police ‘we need to go to the toilets’ because for the first two times they were not responding. [...] You are allowed to go one time per day in the toilet so it was very difficult. Some of my friends, they had some problems and needed to go two-three times [per day] to the toilet, but [the police] did not solve this problem. They asked from the police if they could keep the toilet door open, but they refused. They did not keep it open.” The respondent reported that the cell in which he was detained included what he referred to as a fan, which was blowing cold air, despite the weather being already cold. In addition, detainees at the airport were reportedly only provided with a “small blanket” which was insufficient to keep them warm at night.  

 

The respondent further described the behaviour of police officers, divided in three shifts, responsible for guarding the detention site: “all of them were racist, they were using very bad words with us, they were not respecting us and also sometimes they were beating the people who were [detained].” He added that his multiple requests to call his family were denied.

 

The respondent reported being taken to court three times while being detained at the airport, but not being provided with free legal aid. As a consequence, he had to hire a private lawyer who reportedly did not support him and did not attend his appointment at the court. He added being aware that this type of incident happened to a lot of other third country nationals in his situation.

 

Eventually, the respondent was reportedly transferred to Amygdaleza Pre-Removal Detention Centre (PRDC), where he was detained for one month, after 2 weeks of detention at the airport.

 

The respondent described the PRDC as a “huge” facility with 10-12 sections, each holding around 120 people and separated with fences. He explained that men and women were separated in different containers.

Upon arrival in the facility, the respondent reported going through registration procedures and having his photograph taken. He was then reportedly provided with a filthy mattress and an “old blanket”, and taken to a container which he described as “super dirty” and infested with cockroaches. He described the container as being split in 2 parts separated by a wall, each part having the capacity to host 4 people. However, he explained that the container he was assigned was already at full capacity, and that he was initially told to sleep in the container's toilet, which was reportedly no longer in use by the detainees. He stated that he was unable to sleep during his first night because of the poor conditions. As a result, he moved his mattress into the main area of the container and slept on the floor due to the lack of available beds. According to his account, he was able to use a bed only one week later, when one of his co-detainees was released from the facility.

 

The respondent recalled being “shocked” by the unsanitary conditions in Amygdaleza. He described the toilet as “super dirty” and explained that problems with the water pipes caused frequent water cuts. He described the presence of lots of cockroaches and flies around the toilet and the complete lack of cleaning personnel. Water cuts due to the pipes were reportedly also affecting the showers, which made it difficult for detainees to maintain good hygiene conditions: “it was very hard for us to take a proper shower there”. The respondent further detailed not being provided with any personal hygiene items or pillows while detained in the facility.

 

The respondent described the food provided in the PRDC as poor in quality and quantity. He recalled being provided with three meals a day, in portions that he compared to those served on airplanes, but with a lower quality. He also explained that the meal schedule was changing everyday: “One time they were giving at 1 o'clock and other times they were giving around 6 o'clock.”

 

The respondent reported that “around 1200 to 1500 people were living in this camp in the same situation”.

He stated that he tried to get information about the asylum procedure for almost three weeks but that his requests were denied by the police in the facility. He detailed that the general lack of information about asylum procedures in the facility caused psychological distress to many detainees: “most of the people who are living there, because they did not know anything about the asylum process, most of them had problems, mental problems.” He further added that the use of drugs was common in Amygdaleza, and had serious consequences on detainees’ health.

 

The respondent stated: “I am feeling, about all this situation, that the Greek government wants to push us to sign the deportation paper to return back to go to our country, to not stay in this bad condition in the camp.”

 

The respondent explained being eventually able to apply for asylum in Amygdaleza. However, 4 days before his first asylum interview, he was reportedly transferred to the Corinth PRDC along with 19 other detainees, without being provided with any information: “one day around 6am someone came to my room and told me ‘you have to collect all your stuff, you have to leave the camp’.” 

 

After his requests for information were repeatedly ignored, the respondent was finally explained that he would be given another appointment for his asylum interview in Corinth. He described the facility as made up of 4 old buildings with various cells in each one of them, and 4 people detained in each cell. He explained that the majority of detainees in Corinth were coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

 

The respondent described the detention conditions in Corinth as particularly bad: “this camp is worse than the first camp. It is worse than Menidi [Amygdaleza] camp.”

 

He reported the presence of a lot of cockroaches in his cell, and the lack of support from the facility’s authorities to get rid of them, despite repeated requests. He added that bedbugs were preventing detainees from sleeping at night: “Unfortunately, we wish that we only had the cockroaches problem here, but there are other kinds of cockroaches here, especially during the sleeping time. You cannot see them with your eyes, it is biting you all the time, all the night, you have to itch your body and you cannot sleep well.” In addition, the respondent reported that the lights inside the cells were switched on every evening at 8:00 p.m. and remained on throughout the night, with no possibility for detainees to turn them off, further exacerbating difficulties in sleeping.

 

The respondent further described the mattress he had to sleep on as old and dirty, stained with vomit: “I can tell you by 100% that the mattress has been used at least for 10 years by different people and different nationalities. It is too bad about the quality, and you can see over the mattress, you can feel that maybe someone vomited on the mattress, but we can not do anything about it, there is no one to help or solve this problem.”

 

The respondent described that each cell included a water pipe from which detainees could drink. However, he explained that the facility was frequently affected by water cuts, leaving detainees repeatedly unable to access water, be it for drinking or for hygiene use. The water used for hygiene was reportedly undrinkable salty water. When available, the water was reportedly always cold. The respondent detailed an insufficient number of hygiene facilities, with one toilet and one shower available for 12-13 detainees. He described the measures detainees adopted to cope with the water cuts, explaining that they collected water in buckets so that they could wash when the water supply was unavailable. When questioning inmates, he was reportedly told that water cuts had been a recurring issue for a long time in the facility. Detainees’ requests to the facility’s authorities to solve the issue have reportedly been ignored.

 

The respondent explained that the building he was detained in was provided with a general air conditioning, which he described as insufficient to cover the needs of detainees in all cells. 

 

The respondent reported contracting scabies due to the unsanitary conditions he was forced into. He explained requesting to see the doctor of the facility, but facing difficulties in order to receive the support needed due to the lack of interpretation services during consultation. When he was eventually able to see the doctor, the respondent was reportedly told that the treatment for his conditions was not available. He recalled these words from the facility’s doctor: “we don’t have any specific medicine to give you, you are responsible for your health, you have to be careful of your hygiene to not get skin disease”.