released me. I got a white paper telling me I needed to leave the country in 30 days.218 Others told Human Rights Watch they did not apply for asylum because they were not informed how to do so. Despite a UNHCR-approved five-language booklet, “Basic Information for Asylum-Seekers,” that is supposedly made available to detainees, when Human Rights Watch walked down the corridor at the Petrou Ralli detention center and showed the detainees in each cell a copy of it, in no case did any detainee, male or female, say that he or she had ever seen it, nor did Human Rights Watch observe any sign of the booklet in Petrou Ralli (we did see the obvious display of the booklet in the controlled tour of Fylakio-Kyprinou where all the detainees were removed from the premises during our visit). The absence of any interpreters in any of the Greek detention centers also renders communication about asylum—or any other subject—extremely difficult. An Iraqi Christian from Baghdad, who said that militia men killed his father and brother in law, was detained for 94 days in the Venna facility in the Evros region. He said that he did not apply for asylum because he could not afford a lawyer, even though there is no requirement to have a lawyer in order to lodge an asylum claim, and also that he was misinformed about the principle of family reunification. He said: They gave us a small book on asylum on the third month there. I read that book, but the guard told me that I would have to pay $500 for a lawyer to represent me to ask for asylum, so I did not ask for asylum. He also said that I couldn’t apply for my family. I refused the red card because I couldn’t bring my family here. I don’t want to live alone without my family.219 Others, particularly Iraqis, do not apply for asylum in the islands or the Evros region because they do not want to reveal their true nationalities for fear that they are more likely to be deported from areas of Greece that are closer to the Turkish frontier. A 34year-old Iraqi from Baghdad who said that he fled a threat from the Mahdi Army was 218 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-28), Athens, May 29, 2008. 219 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-12), Athens, May 26, 2008. 87 Human Rights Watch November 2008