GENERAL: BETRAYAL OF AFGHAN HERO IS SHAMEFUL
THE former head of the military has said he is ashamed of the Government’s decision not to allow British troops’ longest-serving Afghan interpreter into the UK.
Lord Richards of Herstmonceux said last night that the translator – known as Ricky –
was a ‘brave and loyal servant of the Armed Forces’.
The highly unusual intervention from Lord Richards will pile pressure on the Government to change its policy, and grant Ricky’s request for a new life in Britain. Lord Richards, who was commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said that letting the interpreter in was a decision between ‘ right and wrong’ and a key test of our ‘generosity of spirit’.
Ricky, 34, worked for the British military in Afghanistan for 16 years and was described by senior British officers as showing ‘unfailing loyalty’.
He has said that he translated for Lord Richards while operating in the Afghan capital, Kabul. However, the Ministry of Defence
AN SAS hero of the Iranian Embassy siege was homeless last night – as the only terrorist to survive the drama settled down for the night in his own council flat.
Bob Curry, 64, was pictured in an iconic image of the 1980 siege in London, leading comrades into the South Kensington building after 26 people were taken hostage.
Mr Curry was nicknamed ‘Backdoor Bob’ after bravely entering the rear of the embassy – as his comrades abseiled down the front of the whitewashed property.
But the SAS veteran is now relying on his old regiment to fund his bed-and-breakfast accommodation after a long-term relationship broke down, leaving him without a place to stay. Council officials in Hereford have failed to find him suitable accommodation.
A petition to give Mr Curry a home had been signed by more than 70,000 people last
‘It’s hard to go cap in hand to the council’
night. His plight is in stark contrast to that of Fowzi Nejad, 61, who avoided being sent back to Iran following his release from prison a decade ago, and is believed to have survived on handouts while living in council accommodation in London.
Last May, a friend of Nejad told a newspaper he ‘lives off benefits and is on disability because he has a bad back’.
Approached by The Sun outside his council accommodation in Peckham, South London, yesterday, Nejad refused to talk about Mr Curry’s situation.
Nejad was captured after pretending to be a hostage. The SAS killed the other five dissidents from the Democratic Revolutionary Front for Arabistan, a group who opposed the Iranian regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Nejad was jailed for life for con- spiracy to murder, false imprisonment and two charges of manslaughter. But following his release in 2008, British authorities ruled they could not deport him because it would breach the Human Rights Act.
Herefordshire Council has offered Falklands hero Mr Curry accommodation at two properties – a hostel populated by drug addicts or a house said to be four miles from the nearest shop – which the veteran declined.
Yesterday, a fellow SAS veteran who was alongside Mr Curry during the siege operation condemned the council for failing to help his former comrade. Rusty Firman, 67, said: ‘Since Bob joined 8 Troop alongside me at the end of 1979, I was able to see his qualities first-hand. Bob has served his country with distinction and should be taken care of – not left on the streets like this.’
Mr Curry has survived two heart attacks but is registered disabled and also suffers from diabetes.
In 2015, he sold his General Service Medal and a South Atlantic Medal for £ 20,000 to raise funds as his locksmith training business failed.
He told The Sun: ‘I’ve been in tough spots through my career but with my health now I wouldn’t have survived long on the streets – SAS training or not. I was sat in the council offices explaining my life to someone who looked at me as though I was nothing.
‘It’s hard to go cap in hand to the council and ask for help. I hated it but I had no choice.’
In November, Herefordshire Council told him to fill in forms for a council house to see if he fitted the criteria.
The only place the authority could offer was a hostel containing ex-criminals, drug addicts and people with mental problems. But Mr Curry told The Sun he could stay there for only two nights – and spent December sleeping on his daughter’s sofa. He then secured a 28-day stay at a Hereford B&B after approaching the Royal British Legion and SAS Regimental Association for help.
Former sergeant Trevor Coult, who was awarded the Military Cross in 2006, tweeted about Mr Curry’s plight on Wednesday, a post which was shared almost 10,000 times in 24 hours.
Speaking from his Suffolk home yesterday, Mr Coult said: ‘I’ve had messages offering financial help for Bob from ex-forces personnel around the world – Australia, New Zealand, even Paraguay. Bob’s a private guy who didn’t want to
Joined Army as a boy soldier aged 15
make a fuss. But I felt I had to do something to try and help him.’
Herefordshire Council said it was ‘actively working with this individual to secure accommodation within the county’.
The authority added: ‘Unfortunately, to date the individual has not provided all the documentation needed to legally register for housing. However, regardless of this, the council’s housing team has found and offered two different forms of accommodation, in areas which were agreeable to the individual, but which have subsequently been turned down.
‘We are continuing to work with the individual to help them secure appropriate housing.’
Mr Curry joined the Army as a boy soldier aged 15 in 1968 and spent ten years in an infantry battalion before progressing to the SAS. He left in 1985 and later worked for then Harrods owner Mohammed Fayed.
The Department for Work and Pensions would not confirm last night whether Nejad was still claiming benefits.