A refugee has told of her “heartbreaking” decision to give up her academic career when she was forced to flee Iraq to apply for asylum in the UK.

While studying for a PhD at the University of Leeds in 2012, Malka Al-Haddad learned that her life would be in danger if she returned home.

Having worked as a poet and a lecturer in Arabic literary criticism at Kufa University in Iraq for 10 years, she was forced to claim asylum and leave her career behind.

Living in the highly religious city of Najaf, Ms Al-Haddad became a target because of her outspoken views on human rights, and her role as director of the Women’s Centre for Culture and Art in Iraq.

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Speaking to Times Higher Education, she said: “I’m really proud of my centre, so it was not easy to leave my great career as a lecturer in the university, as an academic, and as director of the women’s centre.

“It was heartbreaking for me to choose to stay in this country to claim asylum.”

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During the asylum process, she continued to voluntarily write academic papers and articles on human rights issues, women’s rights and refugee rights, but was barred from working.

And she recently completed a second master’s degree in politics and violence at the University of Leicester, while continuing her poetry and creative writing.

During the “unfair” asylum process, the 52-year-old said she faced many obstacles from the UK Home Office.

“The Home Office did not believe my story and tried to deny every piece of evidence I submitted,” she said. “I had a lot of evidence submitted and it was all ignored and rejected.”

Ms Al-Haddad said the government treated all asylum seekers very negatively, which she said was an “injustice” to those forced to leave their careers and lives behind in their home countries.

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“They think they all came to claim for benefits, for money, for jobs and they are wrong. If they look to my background, I had a great salary in my country and when I claimed asylum my support was £5 a day. What can I do with £5 a day?

“I left a wonderful job, I left a wonderful culture, I left family and I left my centre to have my freedom, to have my safety.

“They have to look at our stories as humans, not just as numbers.”

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After a 10-year wait, she was finally granted refugee status in March 2023 and is allowed to work again.

“It’s my dream (to go back to work),” she said. “I miss my job and I feel it is a shame to spend all these years without working, without involvement in my academic field.”

Her first poetry collection raised thousands of pounds for British charities working with asylum seekers and refugees, with a second one due out this summer.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “All asylum applications are considered on their individual merits on a case-by-case basis and in line with current published policy.

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“We do not comment on individual cases.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com