Young man ‘kept as slave’

A YOUNG man from Darfur in Sudan who claims he was effectively kept as a slave in eastern Sudan for years before fleeing has secured leave from the High Court to bring a challenge to a decision refusing him refugee status here.

The 23-year-old man is illiterate and claims he was brought from Darfur at the age of five to a village in eastern Sudan where he was made work as a shepherd for a large landowner and former politician. He claims he was effectively a slave, was beaten regularly and received very little income.