Joy as Iraqi family is grantedasyluminUK

AN IRAQI family whose plight was taken up by York’s Liberal Jewish community have been granted the right to remain in UK by the Home Office.

Sinan Nuuman said he was “overjoyed” after learning that he, his wife Dena, and their children Yara, seven, and Liza, 19 months, had been given permission to remain in the country for the next five years.

The family had converted to Judaism after becoming part of the fledgling York Liberal Community in June 2014, where they are now regulars at services.

Mr Nuuman said: “We were close to complete desperation. The decision gives us hope for a new, optimistic life and that finally we can assure the safety of our children.”

He added: “I read the Home Office letters time and time again not believ- ing that we finally have the right to stay.”

A spokesman for York’s Liberal community said they were “over the moon” at the Home Office’s decision.

The family arrived in the UK more than four years ago after Mr Nuuman left Baghdad to take an Iraqi government-funded postgraduate degree at York University.

In a decision that delighted her parents, Yara Nuuman was offered a place at the Brodetsky Jewish Primary School in Leeds last November. The family moved to the city to be closer to the school.

York’s small Liberal Jewish community has been among the most staunch supporters of the Nuumans right to remain in Britain, raising £3,000 on their behalf.

The family claimed asylum last June after the Iraqis had cancelled Mr Nuuman’s funding and visa. The Nuumans with daughter Yara: “This decision has given us hope”