Chechen Mother Continues Hunger Strike
Swedish Radio has reported that Tamila Tankaeva, the asylum seeking Chechen mother is continuing her hunger strike even after fainting and being taken to the hospital.
According to the information, Tamila Tankaeva describes the act of protest as her last chance and points out that she is doing it all for her 15-year old daughter, Madina who suffers from Down’s Syndrome.
For more than one week now, she has continued her hunger strike. She does not eat and only drinks two or three cups of water per day. On September 16, she suddenly felt sick and fainted, and was taken to the hospital. Swedish Radio’s reporter said when she saw Tamila in the hospital; she was very weak and could move only with the help of two nurses.
Tamila says that she is stressed; she has high blood pressure and back pain. In addition, now she cannot sleep either. However, she cannot see any other way to keep her family in Sweden after 5 years of living there, other than continuing her hunger strike.
“This is my last chance; I do it for my kids. I ask that authorities look into our case again. We cannot go back to Chechnya, we can’t. They always terrorize my mother, sister and brother. They ask where I am,” Tamila said.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch believe that it would be risky for Tamila and her two children to return Chechnya, but the Swedish Migration Office does not share this opinion and claims that Tamila could not prove that the pro-Russian regime is looking for her and her children.
Their lawyer appealed the deportation decision, but according to Tamila, she will continue her hunger strike until the Swedish Migration Board begins to investigate their situation.
*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco