Greece: Demand for action after another death at migrant camp

The man, who has been identified as Sheheryaar Ahmed, died in the early hours of Tuesday, October 24, at Corinth general hospital “due to complications from severe pneumonia,” according to police sources quoted by local media.

However, the shadow migration minister, Giorgos Psychogios, has called for a full investigation into the cause of the 24-year-old’s death, amid accusations that the migrant camp in Corinth has not had an on-site doctor for the last four months.

“The lack of a doctor at the Prokeka Corinth camp and the indefinite detention lead to human tragedies, with the clear responsibility of the New Democracy government,” Psychogios said in a statement.

“Because of his death, and the lack of a doctor, some of his fellow detainees are on hunger strike and complain that the 24-year-old had been asking for medical help for days (prior to his death),” Psychogios added.

‘We do not want to mourn more lives’

This latest incident comes two years after the suicide of a 24-year-old Kurdish migrant at the same facility.

“We have repeatedly pointed out … the dangers created both by the lack of medical staff … and by the unreasonably prolonged stay of people in administrative detention, a fact for which the government has been in the sights of the Council of Europe for a long time, as well as for the conditions of detention,” said Psychogios.

“We ask that the circumstances of Sheheryaar Ahmed’s death be fully investigated, that the medical and social services at Prokeka in Corinth – and throughout the country – be strengthened, that funds be given to improve living conditions and that administrative detention be applied as a last resort, after sufficient justification and exhaustion of milder measures.

“We do not want to mourn more lives … that could have been saved,” Psychogios concluded.

Human rights group The United Movement Against Racism and the Fascist Threat (KEEFRA) also backed Syriza’s call for an investigation, releasing a statement saying:

“KEEFRA requests that full light be shed on the circumstances of Sheheryaar Ahmed’s death and complains that the government’s criminal policy has risen to a new level after the drowning of 600 refugees in the Pylos shipwreck, with the Coast Guard attempting to tow the rotten boat to Italy and with the charring of 28 refugees in the burning forest of Dadia in Evros.”