Afghan poet decapitated after trying to seek asylum in Australia

An Afghan man was recently rejected asylum in Australia and was sent back home. The man was then kidnapped and brutally killed by Taliban forces.

Mohammad Hussain, a poet, fled Afghanistan to the Pacific island of Nauru to avoid the chaos at home. He sought asylum in Australia but officials declined his petition and sent him back to Afghanistan. Phil Glendenning with the Edmund Rice Center directed the movie titled A Well-Founded Fear, a film about asylum seekers rejected under the Howard administration's “Pacific Solutions” policy. Glendenning met Hussain in January in Kabul. Hussain told Glendenning he could not live in Afghanistan because of the Taliban and other factions who were terrorizing locals. Hussain said he lived in a place where there was a coal mine, “a mountain and no one else." Glendenning later found out Hussain was kidnapped upon his return to Afghanistan. Hussain escaped from them and fled to Iran but was sent back to Afghanistan yet again. He fled to Pakistan, but again was sent back to Afghanistan. Hussain sent an urgent letter to Glendenning seeking help. He wanted to know whether Glendenning could contact someone in Australia so he might be able to get out of the country before he got captured by his enemies from the Mujahedeen war. Unfortunately, Glendenning couldn’t help or contact him personally. Hussain was again captured by Taliban forces who threw him in a well in front of his family and onlookers. Once in the well, a Taliban soldier threw a hand grenade into the well, decapitating him. Glendenning told this story to the Herald after hearing about Hussain from four different sources in Afghanistan. Glendenning was very sad he couldn’t save Hussain’s life and told the Herald:

"It further underscores the fact that the Pacific solution hasn't ended, and that those who were the victims of it remain the victims of it."

Glendenning wants the new administration to help Afghan asylum seekers instead of rejecting them outright. He wants the government to install new policies so incidents like this never happen again. Hussain’s story is as sad as the “Kite Runner” story. Despite all the foreign military presence for a number of years, Afghan citizens have yet to find peace.