PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - Most of the 912 Kurdish asylum seekers who washed up on the
French Riviera in a decrepit freighter two months ago came from Syria, not Iraq as they at
first claimed, refugees' rights groups said on Monday.

The immigrants initially lied about their origins because they believed the plight of Iraqi
Kurds was better known than that of Syrian Kurds and the French authorities would be more
sympathetic, said Christophe Perrin of the Cimade rights group.

"People in such a desperate situation are prepared to say anything to avoid being sent back
where they came from. The traffickers who organised the journey advised them to lie,"
Perrin said.

After noticing inconsistencies in many of the Kurds' stories, lawyers and human rights
workers helping them to prepare requests for asylum urged them to come clean. A majority
have now admitted they came from Syria, not Iraq.

France was shocked by the dumping of the 912 Kurds, including 480 children, when the
Cambodian-registered ship they were packed onto ran ashore on the Mediterranean coast on
February 17.

Their arrival after a week spent cramped and hungry in the cargo's hold sparked public fury
over the growing human-trafficking trade, as migrants from impoverished countries pour
into Europe seeking a better life.

In the latest incident, a ship with hundreds of illegal immigrants, many of them believed to
be children, docked at the southern Italian port of Gallipoli on Sunday.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com