Hebba's story

Hebba, Wisam and their daughter Jelnar and son Jalal today live at an asylum center. Their application for asylum has been denied and they have waited for almost a year to have their case reassessed by the Danish Refugee Board.

Meet Hebba (b. 1982) from Baghdad, Iraq.

Hebba’s husband Wisam owned a music store in Baghdad. A group of men, sent by the Iraqi government, came by his shop multiple times and threatened to kill him if he did not close it down. 

After several threats he decided to move to Egypt at the end of 2005. In Egypt he got work at the television channel Al-Baghdadyie. Hebba and their daugther joined him in Egypt at the beginning of 2006.

During his work at Al-Bagdhadyie Wisam developed and contributed to the satire program ‘Besameer’, in which the Iraqi parliament and parliamentarians were criticized. In 2008, Hebba, Wisam and their daugther returned to Baghdad. But Wisam lived in fear of being killed by the dominating militias in Iraq, because he had been part of a political satire program criticizing the Iraqi government.

In September 2015, when Hebba was alone in their house, the family received a threatening letter and shots were fired against their residence. The family immediately fled to another house and in November 2015 they fled out of Iraq.

Hebba, Wisam and their daughter Jelnar and son Jalal today live at an asylum center. Their application for asylum has been denied and they have waited for almost a year to have their case reassessed by the Danish Refugee Board.

Photo by Martin Thaulow, Copyright © Refugee.Today/Good people.