Afghan father and daughter Abrahim and Hanyie Maleki officially received a status as refugees in Iceland yesterday at the Directorate of Immigration. Twelve-year-old Hanyie made world headlines when 300 Icelanders threw a birthday party for her to defy plans to deport her last August.
“I feel so safe,” was the first thing Hanyie said upon hearing the conclusion of the meeting yesterday. Their friend Guðmundur Karl Karlsson said speaking to mbl.is, “They’re so happy. They want to express their thanks to the whole Icelandic nation and will somehow try to do that themselves.”
On September 11th last year they had received the news that they were to be deported. Hanyie had been urged to say goodbye to her friends at school and told she was to be deported to Germany three days later. Continue
