16 GREECE IRREGULAR MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS ROUTINELY DETAINED IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS view to their deportation.46 The six Iranian asylum-seekers had arrived irregularly on the island of Samos some time in November 2009. They were apprehended by local police, who then accused them of using false documents to enter the country, and subsequently issued deportation orders against them. They were initially detained at Vathi police station and after that at Samos immigration detention centre until their transfer to Athens. Their asylum applications, lodged on 26 November 2009 with the assistance of a lawyer employed by the local Prefecture, were rejected on 9 January 2010. The rejection decisions were reportedly handed to them a day prior to their transfer to Athens, and were in Greek and were not explained to them. Amnesty International interviewed two of the six asylum-seekers. They spoke about the inadequate interpretation during their asylum interviews, their conditions in detention, and the lack of clear and sufficient information regarding the purpose of their transfer to Athens and of their right to appeal against the first instance decision. One of them told Amnesty International: “...The day that we were transferred to Athens, a policewoman told us in English in the morning and in the evening another officer (he did not wear a uniform) told us in Farsi that we were being transferred to Athens in order to be released and we would have a two-month deadline in Athens to appeal against the decision rejecting our asylum application (they didn’t mention anything about deportation). At 6pm, before serving dinner, they took us to a police station for the transfer. We signed papers written only in Greek that we could not understand." Following their transfer to Athens, the six Iranian asylum-seekers were detained at Elliniko detention centre for irregular migrants pending deportation. The two asylum-seekers told Amnesty International that their blankets and mattresses were dirty, hot water was very limited and, because of overcrowding, there were not enough beds for everyone and they slept on the floor. The asylum-seekers managed to see a volunteer lawyer while they were detained there. Their case received wide publicity. They were released from detention on 21 January 2010. The deportation orders issued against them were suspended for a period of 30 days. The police notice, or “white card”, -- issued to them upon their release -- was in Greek, a language that none of the asylumseekers could understand.47 Amnesty International’s research between September 2008 and February 2009 indicated that the vast majority of Dublin II returnees interviewed were usually detained for a few days on arrival at Athens airport. 48 In May 2010, the police authorities said that Dublin II returnees were detained at the airport for between one and two days. Dublin II returnees who are failed asylum-seekers, and for whom a negative decision has become final, are detained for longer for the purposes of deportation. During the May 2010 visit to the Athens airport detention area, Amnesty International delegates met with X, an Iraqi national. X. was the only Dublin II returnee held in the facility at the time of the visit. X. was not detained in the area used for Dublin II returnees and other asylum-seekers but with irregular migrants convicted for attempting to leave the country with false documents. He had already been detained at the facility for two days at the time of the organization’s visit. According to the authorities, the decision rejecting his asylum application at first instance had become final and following his return to Greece he was detained for the purpose of deportation.49 X. did not understand why he had been detained and was unable to contact his relatives. The police authorities informed Amnesty International that X. was released few days after the organization’s visit and that he did not submit a new asylum application during his detention. Amnesty International July 2010 Index: EUR 25/002/2010