No Country No Sanctuary

SYNOPSIS – “NO COUNTRY NO SANCTUARY” Based on a true story of a young man who escapes from Iraq in 1998 during the Saddam Hussein regime after a murder is pinned on him for not attending a Baath Party meeting. He joins for fear that something bad might happen to his mother and his fears are confirmed when she is roughed up by the Police looking for him. Bashir flees finding himself with two other strangers driving at speed towards the Syrian border. The crossing is very dangerous with gun carrying Iraqi border officials all on the lookout for people escaping the country. One man dies in the attempt to cross into Syria and the remaining two face incredible ordeals including the weather, fatigue, and hunger before they convince a driver to risk his life to smuggle them across the border. In Syria a fruiter offers them temporary accommodation and food for the night. He has a contact to get them across the Lebanese border where they can throw themselves on the mercy of the UN. The problem is that the contact takes illegal goods across the border using less travelled roads. After stopping for a break, the contact’s campsite is raided by Syrian police and the two men flee after watching a carnage of destruction and death at the site. After walking aimlessly and dealing with battering icy winds and poor visibility, the two men are separated after an argument over an abandoned vehicle found by Bashir who eventually ditches that vehicle close to the Lebanese border. He hitches a ride with a teacher after walking wide of the checkpoint who takes him right into Beirut. Bashir spends the next twelve months on the streets rummaging through bins. One day he notices a man dressed in a white gown opposite who is fixated on him. Bashir in his confused mind, is convinced that it is his friend who he lost in the desert. He crosses the road and chases the man who clearly is frightened by him to realise it is not him. Bashir finds work at an ice cream shop where food and accommodation is provided. He survives cleaning floors and eventually selling behind the counter until he is forced to leave when the jealous son punches him and makes up a story that he took money from the register. Bashir is back on the streets again and is helped briefly by a man who sees him flee the shop and knows the son. He puts him up in his apartment but is transferred to Qatar leaving him with no accommodation. Eighteen months later Bashir emerges from a pile of rubbish to attempt suicide by jumping off the Cliff top at RAOUCHE. He makes his way to the barricades and is within meters of jumping when he is tackled by a security man named Jacques. Rather than handing him over to the police, brings him home to his family. He helps him get the attention of the UN. Bashir’s story of fleeing Iraq after having a murder pinned on him is risky but eventually works. Twelve months later Bashir while working at a café receives a call from the UN office asking him to attend a meeting at the Australian Embassy the next morning. Despite a gruelling interrogation from the Australian officials, gets his passport and a one way ticked to Perth Western Australia