Relatives of an Iraqi Kurd who served as a double for the son of Iraq's president Saddam Hussein do not qualify as "vulnerable persons" for asylum in Ireland, under UNHCR requirements, according to the Department of Justice.
Mr Latif Yehyah al-Salihi has lived in Ireland since 1997 and is seeking asylum for members of his family living in Amman, Jordan. He is married to an Irish woman, but was granted asylum in Austria.
The Jordanian government is reported to be looking for a country which will take in his mother Gulbahar, her two sons Robar and Omed and their sister Joana. The Jordanian Information Minister Mr Nasser Lawzi told Agence France Presse they were illegally residing in Jordan, but were under no threat.
Mr Salihi claimed Jordan had expelled his family but the authorities there denied the charge. "Their six-month residency permit expired and is not renewable, as is the case for any Iraqi who does not have a work permit," Mr Lawzi said. "In light of appeals by human rights organisations, Jordan is being careful to deport this family to a country where they will be safe," he added.
Mr Salihi, who says he has been the target of at least three assassination attempts, appealed to the Government for visas for his family, saying he feared for their safety if they were returned to Iraq.
"I hope the Irish Government will save the life of four persons who could die in a few hours. I worked with the Iraqi government, I know what they do with political people," he told RTE radio yesterday.
A Department of Justice spokesman said however, the department was guided by the UNHCR which investigates the circumstances of people identified as "vulnerable persons". Both Mr Salihi and the Department referred his family's case to the UNHCR.
The UNHCR found that they did not qualify under this category, but the Department spokesman said if the family could provide additional information to the UNHCR which would satisfy its requirements they would go along with that.
Mr Salihi escaped Iraq by fleeing through the northern Kurdish provinces which are outside Baghdad's control and where he contacted US forces. In a 1995 interview he told how he spent several years as Uday Saddam Hussein's double after undergoing plastic surgery to make him look more like the president's son.
