Hafiz Akif Khan was arrested by the Greek Police on Tuesday 20/06/2023 and is being held at the Amygdaleza detention center while he was on his way to a meeting to coordinate actions for the shipwreck off Pylos. Akif has given all the energy he had to interventions for refugees through the Anticapitalist Migrants Greece initiative, with other activists from Pakistan, and with a contribution to the actions of SYPROME-Coordination for Refugee-Migrant Unions, student associations, collectives. While as a member of ANTARSYA he fights for the rights of locals and immigrants.
Akif is originally from Kashmir and was the regional secretary of the JKNSF (Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation). After persecution by the Pakistani police and religious organizations, his life was deemed to be in danger and left the country.
The Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Agency (FIA) has targeted him even during his stay in Greece, where they checked him and confiscated his mobile phone in the spring of 2023.
In a case of a refugee’s obvious need for political asylum, the Greek state refused to grant him a residence permit after three attempts. Thus, forcing him to have the only way back to Pakistan, where the authorities have repeatedly arrested him for his political activity, and he is sure to be detained once he crosses the border.
The Greek state, in cooperation with the E.U. and Frontex, continues with undiminished intensity his racist policy. Sweep operations are carried out daily with the aim of deporting immigrants, murders in the Evros border and the Aegean are also a daily phenomenon with the crime peaking in Pylos.
Freedom for Akif and every refugee seeking political asylum in Greece should be non-negotiable. Open borders for all refugees, immigrants!
We stand in solidarity with Akif and demand:
To be released immediately
Give him political asylum
#releaseakif
