Paralympian who fled Taliban is denied new prosthetic legs

A Paralympic cyclist from Afghanistan who is seeking asylum in the UK is struggling to walk on broken prosthetic legs after being denied new ones because he does not have refugee status.

- Diane Taylor

Qaher Hazrat had been given a secondhand bike by a charity to help him get around, but this week it was stolen from where it was locked outside his Home Office hotel, leaving him devastated. It was one of nine bicycles recently stolen from the hotel.

Hazrat had both legs amputated below the knee at the age of 14 after being caught in the crossfire of fighting between the Taliban and mujahideen in 1996. He and others were sitting on a bridge when it was hit by a bullet, causing an explosion.

Many of those who were with him were killed or seriously injured.

"I was taken to the hospital and the doctor said he had to amputate my legs because I had lost so much blood," Hazrat said.

After the incident he was left in agony and despair until he was given a bicycle by an organisation in Afghanistan called Aabrar, which provided a way to restore his mobility. The International Committee of the Red Cross helped him to obtain prosthetic legs.