Return to the land of fear
Mohamed Douik, now 14, was left blind in one eye following the incident in Algeria when he was aged six or seven.
Mohamed, his parents Leila and Fouzi and their other children Fouad, 10, Adam, six, and 18-month-old baby Sabrina had their door knocked down by the UK Border Agency three weeks ago.
As reported in The Herald yesterday, they had been living in Plymouth for nearly seven years but within seven hours of the raid they were on a plane to Algeria.
Their deportation has angered campaigners and shocked friends. Mohamed's classmates and teachers at Lipson Community College have collected 1,500 signatures calling for the family to be returned to this country.
The youngster faxed a letter to supporters telling of his terror as the family were seized.
Now family friend Daniel Lonergan, who has spoken to Leila in the Algerian city of Blida, has revealed how the family fled the troubled country after a gunshot was fired at the family home.
Fouzi was also called to give evidence in a trial against the terrorist group GIA but fled to this country because he feared the gunmen would kill him first.
Friends and supporters now fear that the family are being monitored by the authorities in Blida.
Mr Lonergan revealed that Fouzi's brother Hakim Douik also fled to Britain at the same time nearly seven years ago.
Hakim and his wife have two grown-up children and one 10-year-old old child in Glasgow.
But they were granted refugee status eight or nine months ago – raising hopes for Fouzi and his family in Plymouth.
Those hopes were dashed when immigration officials broke down the door of their home in Carlton Terrace in St Jude's at 5am on November 18.
They were gone before supporters in Plymouth's Racial Equality Council could mount any legal challenge.
Mr Lonergan said: "I have spoken to Leila and she is desperate. She only wants what is best for her children. She had a terrible childhood and just wants better for them. They have all been under strain for quite a period of time.
"People around them were being granted refugee status. We told them to stop worrying. Someone from the council's housing department even came around to talk about rehousing them when they won residency."
Friends believe that the UK Border Agency swooped a few months before the family chalked up seven years in this country in March.
That would have given them a stronger legal claim to stay in Plymouth.
The family were not allowed to work as asylum-seekers but were part and parcel of the community in Plymouth.
Both Mohamed and Leila did voluntary work at the school and Fouzi, a mechanic, helped at the former Treads charity teaching young people motor skills.
Now Mohamed and Fouad, who cannot speak Arabic, are being denied an education.
And Leila, used to dressing in western clothes, is being forced to wear the burkha, or traditional veil, in the very strict Muslim region.
The UK Border Agency said it only acted if every legal appeal had been exhausted and only after asylum-seekers had refused to leave voluntarily. A spokesman said that dawn raids were carried out because it was the best time to find a family together.
