A refugee has told of her “heartbreaking” decision to give up her academic career when she was forced to flee Iraq to apply for asylum in the UK.
While studying for a PhD at the University of Leeds in 2012, Malka Al-Haddad learned that her life would be in danger if she returned home.
Having worked as a poet and a lecturer in Arabic literary criticism at Kufa University in Iraq for 10 years, she was forced to claim asylum and leave her career behind.
Living in the highly religious city of Najaf, Ms Al-Haddad became a target because of her outspoken views on human rights, and her role as director of the Women’s Centre for Culture and Art in Iraq.
