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Iraqi Refugees Find Sweden's Doors Closing
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"We didn't come here for a vacation. It was the only option to get away from the killing," said Qusay Wahid, 34, a taxi driver from Baghdad. "We are desperate. What are we going to do? Someone must help us."
"People see Sweden as a raft to grab onto at sea," said Isak Monir, a spokesman for the club. He hoped other countries would help, too.
The smell of homemade hummus and fruit-scented tobacco in water pipes filled the one large room, where a few men played cards. News reports in Arabic on the satellite TV described the latest killings in Iraq, a day of street fighting in Basra.
The newcomers include a supermarket owner whose brother was recently killed, a liquor store owner whose shop was bombed and an accountant. For hours, over cards and sweet tobacco, they worry -- about their families back home and their futures.
"What will we do if we can't stay? We sold everything to get here," said Nashwan Sulaiman, a former Iraqi policeman.
Merzoian, the computer programmer, said his family pooled about $50,000 to pay smugglers to get him, his wife and two children to Sweden. They huddled for 10 days hidden among boxes stacked up in the back of a truck until they arrived in Sweden, exhausted and looking for asylum.
"It's a quiet life here. I am so happy," said Merzoian, who was awarded residency. He described his new life sitting in the warmth of his red rowhouse, which he moved into last month. It is decorated with a wall hanging of the Last Supper and other signs of his Christian faith -- just about the only possessions brought from Iraq.
His children, Tanya, 3, and Shant, 5, attend a cheerful preschool with flowered curtains where they sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in Swedish.
Merzoian lifted the sleeve of his left arm and revealed a jagged narrow scar. Back in Baghdad, he said, he was kidnapped and held for four days before his family paid a ransom. One of his captors dragged a knife across his arm and told him that was how he would later slit his throat.
"I see the smiling faces of my children, and I am so happy they can live here without fear," said Merzoian, who is determined to learn Swedish and get a job. "One day I will work and pay my tax. Others will come and I will help them."
Staff writer Walter Pincus in Washington and special correspondent Naseer Mehdawi in Sodertalje contributed to this report.
