Name: Murtaza Ayubi, Zarmina and their child

Profile: Hazara refugees from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills.

Risk: At risk of being tortured and killed by the Taliban if returned home.

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Murtaza Ayubi, a Hazara driver was abducted and tortured by the Taliban for taking a police chief from his village to Qarabagh. He then came to know that he would not live if he didn’t escape from there, so he escaped but the Taliban went to his home for him, and they killed his brother and took his father with them.

Murtaza fled to Indonesia by boat in late 2014. He lived in a detention centre for about two and a half years, and he is now living in Limbo with his wife. They hope to get an opportunity to live in Canada where they will be able to continue their life with peace and basic human rights.

His Story

Murtaza was born in 1993 in a village of the Qarabagh district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan.

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. Murtaza was a driver in the dangerous way of Ghazni to his village, Gaw Morda. The police chief of his village, whose name was Khadim, offered 10 thousand Afghani Rupees monthly to Murtaza several times for driving him from Qarabagh to his village every Thursday and back to Qarabagh every Saturday.

“I turned down his offer because I knew the Taliban would kill me if they got to know about it.”

One day, the police chief with his two guards, stopped Murtaza in Qarabagh, got in the car and told him to go to the village. Murtaza kept requesting them that he couldn’t take them to the village, but he forced him to drive.

Another Saturday, When Murtaza was driving to Ali Abad Bazaar for finding passengers, Khadim stopped him again on the way and told him to drive to Bazaar. Then, his two guards, who were waiting for him in Bazaar, got in the car and Khadim told Murtaza to drive them to Qarabagh. When he refused, Khadim forcedly offered him the payment for five passengers.

Murtaza drove them, and then took two passengers to the city of Ghazni.

Captured and Tortured

The next day, in the morning, another taxi driver came to Ghazni, laughed and told Murtaza that the Taliban was searching for him for helping the police. Murtaza thought he was joking like always.

On the afternoon of the same day, Murtaza was on his way back to Qarabagh with his passengers, and when he reached Dasht e Qarabagh, he saw some members of the Taliban checking cars.

“When my turn came, they took me out of the car, moved my passengers to other cars and started beating me. I was so scared, and then they blindfolded me and put me in my car.”

After some minutes, they stopped the car in an unknown place and started torturing him and saying that he was transferring the infidels.

“They beat me so much that I fainted. When I woke up, I was in a dark room. The sound of gunfire was coming and suddenly, I heard someone was crying. When I asked, I got to know that he was also a Hazara prisoner.”

They got to know by gunfires that there was a conflict, so they decided to escape. They untied each other hands and escaped from a small window which was covered with bricks. It was night and they left the village through the saplings.

The Tragic News

In the morning, Murtaza went to his father-in-law’s home which was in another village. He stayed there for one night then he sent his brother-in-law to inform his family that he was safe and hidden there.

“In the afternoon of the same day, my brother-in-law returned and told me that the Taliban came to my home the previous night, killed my brother and took my father with them.”

Murtaza decided to return to his home but his father-in-law convinced him to call his mother and talk to her first. When he called his mother, she said that the Taliban had demanded him in return for his father.

“My mother cried and swore to herself and told me not to return home, and she would gather elders of the village and request them to ask the Taliban to release my father.”

Leaving Home

The next day, Murtaza went to Kabul and arranged for a human smuggler. He remained at the smuggler’s home in Kabul for 12 days where he was not allowed to go out. Then, he flew to New Delhi, India and stayed there for 23 days. From there, he flew to Malaysia and arrived in Indonesia by boat in December 2014, and the local police of Indonesia took him to Kalideres Immigration Centre where he stayed for about 2 and a half years.

His Life in Limbo

In 2017, he received his freedom and was transferred to a community house in Jakarta. His wife, Zarmina also came to Indonesia, and they started living together but life is not that easy. Due to having no access to health care, his wife lost her child.

“It was the most depressing moment for me, I couldn’t save my child because I have been deprived of my basic human rights, and now my wife is pregnant again so I feel worried and don’t know what to do.”

The Last Word

Murtaza dreams of living a life in which he can have his basic rights and not lose his loved ones once again.

As UNHCR refugees, Murtaza Ayubi and his family are eligible for Canada’s private sponsorship program. He needs a group of five Canadian friends to support him.

To help support Murtaza and his family as a sponsor, please contact Stephen Watt on Facebook.

You can also reach out to Murtaza Ayubi by Email.

Reach out and discover how wonderful it is to privately sponsor a good person to start a new life – with your help – in Canada!

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