An interpreter employed by the Army in Basra for five years has been refused a place on a scheme to resettle Iraqi employees in Britain because he is deemed to be a security risk. Mohammed Motlag, 47, had been told that he and his family could be among the first to be relocated to Britain under a fast-track programme to offer asylum to current Army employees. He has learnt, however, that his application for asylum has been rejected for "security reasons". Mr Motlag, whose five-year-old son was kidnapped because of his work for the British, said: "It was very shameful to learn that the British did not accept me. My wife had to be taken to hospital because she fainted upon hearing the news. "I cried. I have liked Britain since I was a child. I grew up reading Shake-speare and used to think, `What a civili-sation'."
An interpreter employed by the Army in Basra for five years has been refused a place on a scheme to resettle Iraqi employees in Britain because he is deemed to be a security risk.
Mohammed Motlag, 47, had been told that he and his family could be among the first to be relocated to Britain under a fast-track programme to offer asylum to current Army employees. He has learnt, however, that his application for asylum has been rejected for "security reasons".
Mr Motlag, whose five-year-old son was kidnapped because of his work for the British, said: "It was very shameful to learn that the British did not accept me. My wife had to be taken to hospital because she fainted upon hearing the news.
"I cried. I have liked Britain since I was a child. I grew up reading Shake-speare and used to think, `What a civili-sation'."
