He was granted asylum seeker status and is preparing for his hearing, on 11 February 2014, before the Office of the General Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA).

His hope is to secure political asylum, which would be a first for a person in danger in a country within the European Union.

Mamadou fled his native Guinea, out of fear that his father – a powerful imam – would take his life in an honour killing.

In 2006, he reached Athens where he was granted political asylum.

His activism earned him the role of first secretary of the Union of Guinean Nationals in Greece (URGG) and he contributed, through his work, to changing the law on the status of immigrant children born in Greece.

But the economic crisis broke out and right-wing extremist groups such as Golden Dawn grew in strength, making life increasingly difficult for Mamadou and other immigrants.

Death squads

One evening in May 2013, he was beaten up by what he refers to as the “Golden Dawn death squads”, a militia group that patrols the streets armed with baseball bats on the lookout for black people to attack.

He was assaulted while waiting for a bus after work, and received several blows to the head, splitting his skull open.

His scar, clearly visible, still hurts him today.

Mamadou did not report the incident to the police, who he accuses of being in cahoots with Golden Dawn.

He had already been the victim of theft and suffered discrimination at the hands of the Greek police and no longer trusted them.

But rather than keeping a low profile and staying quiet like so many others, Mamadou spoke to several Greek and foreign media outlets about the attack and the links between the police and Golden Dawn.

Neither of them appreciated his comments.

In September, Mamadou was arrested during an ID check, taken to the police station, stripped and humiliated.

“They asked me if I planned on speaking to the media again. I answered that the only thing that could keep me from talking would be to keep me in there for life,” Mamadou tells Equal Times.

“Before releasing me, because they had nothing to charge me with, they said, ’If you want to play politics, go back to Africa! Greece is for the Greeks!’”

Following this arrest and various acts of intimidation by Golden Dawn, who had found out where he lived and worked, Mamadou fled for Belgium at the beginning of October to save his own life and to ask for political asylum.

A unique case

According to legal experts specialised in asylum law, it would be the first time a country of the European Union grants political refugee status to a person under threat in another EU country.

“It’s a unique case but we have a good chance of succeeding. His case is very strong, and we have many testimonies about the threats made against Mr Bah in Greece,” says Olivier Stein, Mamadou’s lawyer in Belgium.

The European Union is nonetheless very strict about the conditions for granting political asylum.

Submitting applications for asylum in more than one EU country, for instance, is prohibited under the Dublin II Regulation. And Mamadou has already applied for – and obtained – asylum in Greece.

However, his lawyer says this shouldn’t matter.

“Dublin II does not apply in his case, because he has come from Greece.

“The situation faced by immigrants there is catastrophic and this has been acknowledged on several occasions, including by the European Court of Human Rights,” explains Stein.

“The Immigration Office could have cited Dublin II but did not do so. Mr Bah was not sent back to Greece and was given asylum seeker status.”

Diplomatic tensions

However, Mamadou case could damage relations between Belgium and Greece, especially with Greece at the helm of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

“A case like this could be diplomatically sensitive,” warns another lawyer who asked to remain anonymous.

“Belgium may risk offending Greece by granting this person political asylum.”

For Stein, however, the risk is minimal.

“My client will explain the persecutions suffered and the threats to his life in Guinea and Greece. We will take great care to make it clear that Greece is not violating his fundamental rights but is simply incapable of protecting him against Golden Dawn,” he explains.

“If the outcome is positive, we won’t know the grounds on which the CGRA has based its decision to grant political asylum. The grounds for the decision will not be given, which should avoid any embarrassment for Greece and prevent creating a legal precedent.”

While waiting for his hearing and the decision reached, Mamadou is preparing his file as best possible, surrounded by his supporters, impatient to have his situation regularised and to be able to continue, albeit remotely, with his fight to defend the immigrants in Greece.