幼少期の人身売買を告白したファラーに英政界から称賛の声

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】幼少期に人身売買によって英国へ連れてこられたというショッキングな告白をした陸上長距離の五輪金メダリスト、モハメド・ファラー（英国）に対して、同国の政治家から称賛の声が上がっている。（写真は陸上男子長距離のモハメド・ファラー）
　英国でとりわけファンに愛され、大きな成功を収めてきた３９歳のファラーは、１３日に放送される英ＢＢＣのドキュメンタリー番組で、本当の名前がフセイン・アブディ・カヒンであり、ソマリア難民として両親とともに英国へ移り住んだというこれまでの主張とは異なり、実際は８歳か９歳の頃にそれまで会ったこともない女性とジブチからやって来て、偽の身分を与えられ、別の家庭の子どもたちの世話をさせられていたことを明かした。
　ファラーはまた、父親は４歳の時にソマリアの内戦で死亡し、母親は北部が一方的に独立を宣言した「ソマリランド共和国」にきょうだい２人と住んでいると話した。
　この告白でファラーの市民権にも疑問が生じたが、英内務省によれば問題はなく、担当者は「ファラー氏に対して何らかの措置を取る予定はなく、そうすると示唆するのは間違いだ」と話した。内務省の指針では、両親や保護者が身分を偽って移民の立場を手に入れたことが後に発覚した場合でも、その子どもの責任は問わない。
　１１歳のときにクルド人の家族とともにイラクから英国へ移ってきたナディム・ザハウィ財務相はＢＢＣに対し、ファラーの人生の物語を聞いて「胸が痛んだし、つらかった」とコメント。「私に言えるのは、モー・ファラーに敬意を表するということだけだ」と話した。
　野党労働党の重鎮リサ・ナンディー氏は、口を開くというファラーの決断は他の人身売買の被害者にとっても「状況を一変させるもの」になり得ると話した。
　サディク・カーンロンドン市長は、「ファラー氏が生き抜いてきたすべてが、彼が最高のオリンピアンの一人というだけでなく、真に素晴らしい英国人であることを証明している」とコメントした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/13-13:28）

Olympic great Mo Farah won praise from across Britain's political spectrum Tuesday after the shock revelation that he was illegally trafficked as a child to the country and forced to work in domestic servitude.
The 39-year-old distance runner, one of Britain's best-loved and most successful athletes, told a BBC documentary that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
Rather than moving to the UK as a refugee from Somalia with his parents as previously claimed, Farah said he came from Djibouti aged eight or nine with a woman he had never met, was given a false identity, and then made to look after another family's children.
In fact, he said, his father was killed in civil unrest in Somalia when Farah was aged four and his mother, Aisha, and two brothers live in the breakaway state of Somaliland.
The truth is I'm not who you think I am, Farah said in the documentary, explaining that his mother wanted him far removed from Somalia's civil wars.
He said his children had encouraged him to tell the truth about his past.
That's the main reason in telling my story because I want to feel normal, and don't feel like you're holding on to something.
The admission could have raised questions about Farah's UK citizenship, but the interior ministry said he was in the clear.
No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong, a Home Office spokesperson told AFP.
The ministry's guidance absolves children of blame if parents or guardians are later found to have obtained their immigration status under false pretences.
- 'Heartbreaking' -
Popularly known as Sir Mo after he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017, Farah completed the 5,000m and 10,000m double at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.
The London Games in particular catapulted him to stardom in Britain. Finance minister and Conservative leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi said Farah remained truly inspirational.
Zahawi, whose Kurdish family fled Iraq for Britain when he was 11, told BBC TV that hearing Farah reveal his life story made him feel heartbroken, painful.
All I can say is I salute Mo Farah, he said.
Lisa Nandy, a senior member of the opposition Labour party, said Farah's decision to speak out could be a gamechanger for other victims of trafficking.
I spent a decade working with children who were trafficked to the UK and everything about this is heartbreaking, Nandy tweeted.
London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said: Everything Sir Mo has survived proves he's not only one of our greatest Olympians but a truly great Briton.
We must build a future where these tragic events are never repeated, he added, at a time when the UK government is trying to send asylum claimants to Rwanda under a scheme to deter cross-Channel migrants.
- 'Get out and run' -
Farah's wife Tania said in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding she realised there were lots of missing pieces to his story but she eventually wore him down with the questioning.
When he arrived in the UK, Farah said the woman who accompanied him took a piece of paper from him that had his relatives' contact details and ripped it up and put it in the bin.
At that moment, I knew I was in trouble, he recalled.
Farah said he was forced to do housework and childcare if I wanted food in my mouth, and was told: If you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything.
Often, I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry, he says in the documentary.
His life was transformed for the better when he went to live with Kinsi Farah, the sister-in-law of the woman who is alleged to have brought him to England.
He started regular schooling and Farah's physical education teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed how the troubled youngster's mood changed when he was on the running track.
The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport, says Watkinson.
Farah eventually told Watkinson the truth about his status, and the teacher informed social services.
It was Watkinson who applied for Farah's British citizenship, which he described as a long process that finally reached fruition in July 2000.
Farah revealed in the programme that he had since spoken to his now namesake and said he was proud he knows what he has achieved.