Hair clippings fine stopped Scottish barber seeing dying mum after passport rejection

A barber from Edinburgh was denied the opportunity to visit his dying mother after immigration officials rejected his passport application over a fine for incorrectly disposing of hair – which he had already paid.

Asam and Kim Al-Abodi with kids Aziz (8) and Alaia (1). Pic: Greg Macvean

Asam Al-Abodi, originally from Iraq, hoped to travel to Turkey with Scottish wife Kim so that mum Makiyah could meet her two grandsons before she passed.

But Mr Al-Abodi, who now lives in Craigentinny, was refused a British passport for the trip to Istanbul after Home Office workers claimed a £200 fine for improperly discarding hair clippings had not been settled, despite the 43-year-old paying the charge after a court hearing in July.

Makiyah sadly lost her battle with pancreatic cancer in November and the couple are now desperate to have the issue resolved after learning Mr Al-Abodi’s father, Ali Abdul, is also unwell.

Asam made his initial application for the document in July, but the only communication they had from Home Office officials before learning it had been rejected was a letter of acknowledgement that the paperwork had been received.

The couple waited almost three months before submitting a “priority” application – which are usually dealt with in 48 hours – but even that was ignored.

In December, the couple found out it had been rejected on grounds of an “unspent criminal conviction”.

But another police background check revealed the charge had been paid and Asam’s latest application has gone unanswered for almost two months.

Wife Kim, 29, revealed the couple were planning a huge family holiday, bringing together both her and Asam’s parents – who he has not seen for 13 years – in Turkey before Makiyah became unwell.

But she now admits the family are “at their wits end,” adding: “We are just in limbo at the moment.”

“In one of the e-mails we got back from the home office, it said they ‘aim to deal with 98 per cent of travel document applications within 70 working days’ – we have been waiting on this since last year.

“When we made the application in July, we got an acknowledgement telling us that they had received it, but that was virtually all we heard from them until September when we really needed it.”

She added: “At this stage, we just don’t know what to do. We are at our wits’ end.”

Asam – who began cutting hair in his native Baghdad at the age of 17 – fled Iraq in 2001 after his brother disappeared while distributing anti-government leaflets denouncing the Saddam Hussein regime.

He initially sought asylum in Denmark, but arrived in Edinburgh when his application was rejected and set up the Susu Barbers salon in Willowbrae. He and Kim married in 2015 and live together with Asam’s son from a previous relationship, Aziz, eight and Alaia, one.