Pregnant Afghan refugee sets herself on fire at Greece camp

An 26-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker who is eight months pregnant set fire to her tent in a bid to burn herself alive at a camp on the Greek island of Lesvos, AFP reported the Greece Migration Ministry saying.

The woman set herself on fire on Sunday morning in the Kera Tepe migrant camp, she was taken to hospital and released on Tuesday.

Other camp residents, police and firefighters all helped put out the blaze, police said in a statement.

Authorities had asked her to stay in Greece until her child was born, but she had not understood this, a ministry source said.

According to information from the hospital, the woman was reported to be suffering from mental health issues after having her request to be relocated to Germany refused.

She is due to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office today having been accused of arson, local media reported.

Last November, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) said in a report that the conditions in which migrants and refugees are held in Greece’s detention facilities are inhumane and degrading.

Calls are now being made for the mental health of asylum seekers to be taken into account and for them to be provided adequate care.

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