One Iranian requested asylum, waited for a hundred days in detention, and was rejected. Then he sewed his mouth … That’s why I didn’t ask for asylum….I heard that those who request asylum don’t get any decision and have to wait for ten years.106 In Soufli an Iraqi man approached us and asked us to help him file an asylum claim. When we told the Greek policeman standing nearby that the person wished to file a claim, the police officer replied to him through us: “Tell him if he asks for asylum it will take a very long time. Until the first decision comes it takes one and half months. If it’s denied and then he wants to appeal it takes more months. And he will stay here.”107 In Venna, another Iranian detainee said he wanted to apply for asylum, but that “the police say that if we ask for asylum we will stay for more than six months.”108 The police commander in Tychero detention center confirmed that applying for asylum extends the duration of detention in inhuman and degrading conditions: Some have applied for asylum. They have to be sent to Alexandroupolis. Most do not apply for asylum, but wait to get to Athens after they get their papers. Applying for asylum makes the detention longer. We have to examine the requests. If the requests are rejected the applicants are either readmitted or deported through their embassies.109 alleged instructions obtained by smugglers not to apply for asylum at the border. In addition, most interlocutors stressed that those who seek asylum are likely to remain in the border detention facilities for a much longer period of time, as the police waits for a decision by the refugee commission before ordering their release.” 106 Human Rights Watch Interview S-3, Feres, November 29, 2010. 107 Informal conversation with Greek police officer, November 29, 2010. 108 109 Appendix to Human Rights Watch Interview S-22, Venna, December 2, 2010. Human Right Watch Interview I-5, Tychero, November 29, 2010. 37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011