14/02/2017 Midlands Today

An interpreter from Afghanistan, who served with British forces,

says the Government has committed a great injustice by not

Javed Hotak, who's living illegally in the Midlands,

says he's received death threats from the Taliban, and fears

for his life if the Home Office send him back.

Last year, another war translator living in West Bromwich,

apparently killed himself, rather than face deportation.

Audrey Dias has this exclusive report.

Now I feel ashamed and I regret my time with them.

This was not the life that Javed Hotak imagined after spending

two years fighting alongside British Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

I was working as a soldier and interpreter as well

Javed also worked for the Afghan special narcotics force, disrupting

His reward - death threats from the Taliban.

So he fled to Britain in 2008, hoping to find asylum in return

Javed handed in the death threats he received from the Taliban

In this one, for example, it says, "you will be in hell very soon."

Here, they accuse him of being a "spy for the Crusaders"

and sentence him and his family to the death penalty.

Now, the Home Office refused to accept that these letters

were genuine and they turned down his claim for asylum.

Last week, the Commons Defence Select Committee heard

The perception all over the country for them is that they have

served the infidel forces, they are the eyes and ears

Something dreadful will happen and we have no

Now, if he is sent back, that would be an appalling act

by our government and there would be one person to blame,

that would be the ministers of the Crown and government

in what is I think an act that is as shameful

as any I can remember the British government taking.

We have referred to the fact that all these other foreign governments

have changed their opinion, they have lifted their interpreters

out of Afghanistan and giving them leave to remain.

Javed is making a renewed asylum application later this month

I think it is really unimaginable to put yourself

in a position like him, being let down

by a government after working in the most dangerous circumstances.

For now he finds himself working illegally in the West Midlands,

relying on friends for a roof over his head.

If you can't take the responsibility,

don't send your troops, maybe if we worked for somebody else,

Audrey Dias, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham.

In a statement the Home Office said...

Charities supporting vulnerable people in Birmingham,

have staged a protest over the threat of proposed

Birmingham City Council says it needs to save ?170 million over

the next four years and blames the Government for the

Charities are concerned that carers, victims of domestic abuse,

the homeless and people with disabilities will suffer

greatly if the proposed budget cuts go ahead.

They are going to have to pay more if they make these cuts.

They will pay more in their homelessness applications,

in their anti-social behaviour, in their policing,

in their care costs, residential care costs,

you know, we have clearly articulated to the council that this

The City Council says following a recent public

consultation it has made some changes in the supporting people

budget to ?3.2 million in the new financial year.

But it's blaming the government for not providing enough money.

We believe that we have done some considerable movement in terms

of the level of those cuts but the reality is that these

are cuts that aren't decided here in the Council House

where people will be protesting, these are decisions that are made

in number ten and number 11 Downing Street.

The proposed budget will be taken to a full council meeting

It's also worth just mentioning that earlier today,

the City Council announced that it was going to invest

?183 million into council housing to improve 20,000 properties over

Amy Cole, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham.

A Birmingham student who went paintballing to train for battle

has been jailed for trying to travel to Syria to join

20-year-old Humza Ali, from Ward End, was today sentenced

to nine years after being found guilty of terror

Two West Midlands Police officers have been arrested in connection

with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, conspiracy

The two officers, aged 47 and 35, who are based at Perry Barr

in Birmingham, were arrested at their homes during early morning

raids by the force's counter corruption unit.

Five other men and a woman were also arrested.

A man has gone on trial accused of murdering

16-year-old Michael Warham was found collapsed with stab wounds,

on Wayford Close on the Meole estate last August.

Declan Graves, who's 19 and from Speke in Liverpool,

The availability of hospital beds for patients is a recurring issue,

but now doctors in Birmingham are piloting a scheme

Some Leukaemia patients will be sent home immediately

They usually have to spend around two weeks in hospital.

Specialists also hope this could cut down on infections.

Here's our Health Correspondent, Michele Paduano.

So, we are probably about ten minutes away from starting.

John Wyartt had high dose chemotherapy yesterday

to destroy his blood cancer, but it's brutal and also

His own stem cells were frozen before treatment.

They are now being thawed and put back into his body.

These are gel packs and they have been pre-warmed

And these will help with the thawing process.

Patients normally spend two weeks in hospital, but tonight,

She has been cleaning the house for the last week solid and yes,

the place has got antibacterial wipes everywhere and just every room

has got them in and washes for your hands and it's

Hey Ho, it's all for the best, isn't it?

Patients are prone to infection and it can be fatal,

but this small pilot study wants to see if some can be

They stay in their own environment, they try to stay away

from the hospital acquired infections, they have their own food

and most of the patients would say that hospital food is not great,

but it is something that when they have such an intensive

This unit has 25 beds and serves a population of 1.4 million.

There is always pressure on NHS beds, so if people can go home,

then more cancer patients can be treated more quickly.

Four days after transplant and John is visited by nurses.

They take blood and check how the treatment is affecting him.

It's just so nice to be able to sleep, go to your own bed,

watch your own telly and just generally relax.

It's better for John, but more pressure for his wife?

Yeah, I do feel a sense of responsibility, it has to be

said, being completely honest, but I think overall I think

it is definitely, I do probably prefer it because I know that it's

But John is hoping for a cure that will keep him out

A busy night of football fixtures to take you through.

In the Championship, a bad night for our clubs.

Aston Villa's defence have questions to answer

Birmingham City lost 2-1 at Preston, Craig Gardner

And Wolves were beaten 1-0 at home by relegation threatened Wigan.

In League One, Coventry City denied all three points by a late equaliser

Port Vale lost 2-0 to Millwall, Shrewsbury also beaten

2-1 by Peterborough, and Walsall took a point,

In League Two, defeat at Stevenage for Cheltenham Town, beaten 2-1.

And in National League, to complete a poor night for our clubs,

Solihull Moors were beaten 2-1 by Woking.

A rescue dog who captured hearts across the Midlands,

got the ultimate Valentines present today by having having

Molly the terrier cross was rescued by the RSPCA in Coventry.

She underwent heart surgery, after well-wishers pledged more

than ?3,000 to pay for the operation.

Earlier, the medical team in Solihull told us Molly

She came through the surgery really well.

Everything went according to plan in the end.

We had a few complications as we mentioned earlier

but everything has worked out very well for her so she now has

a heart that's beating about four times faster

That's all from me for now, have a good night.

I'll leave you with Shefali, who has the forecast.

Hello, good evening to you. It all started off so well for Valentine's

day with two lovebirds on the river in Warwick and some lovely sunshine

in Staffordshire. Then the cloud started to thicken up, leaving these

sheep curious. They were probably wondering what is going to happen in

the next few day. I can tell you, we have some rain coming along tomorrow

and then again on Friday was all coming from the West. There will be

ready for farmers and anyone needing it. Then we have a rest on Thursday.

Crucially these winds draw in much milder conditions. We will see mist,

fog and cloud as well on the way. We have quite a bit developing right

now. Some hill fog, quite right spread, quite extensive. A lot of

cloud there. Ten bridges five or six else's, so a fairly mild at murky

start to the day tomorrow full stop gradually through the day we will

start to see the cloud thickening again from the south-west,

introducing some rain, perhaps some hail and Thunder packed in drink

because of the day. Top temperature 10 Celsius. The National is next.

Good night. fog around to watch out for. Jon

Hammond with the national forecast now.

Good evening. There is some rain in the forecast but not a lot. Plenty

of dry weather to look forward to as we head to the weekend. Cloud

delivering some rain but plenty of spaces in between, hence my

optimism. One of these blobs of cloud is producing dampness right

now. We could see a glancing blow across the far south-east through

the early hours and later some rain arriving across the far south-west.

In between some hill fog overnight, not desperately cold, for most a

touch of frost across the northern Glens of Scotland. At the other end

of the UK some wet weather first thing for breakfast, pushing through

Devon and Cornwall into South Wales. It won't hang around. Things will

brighten up later in the day. Ahead of that a lot of low cloud around, a

rather grey start to the day.