- Title: Jail threat haunts unlikely lover of Calais migrant
- Date: 21st June 2017
- Summary: WIERRE-EFROY, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "Yes, yes, I already knew I had fallen in love. That was it, I was smitten. But I was trying to be rational and telling myself I was there to help, nothing will happen and anyway he was going to leave for England. And I did not know anything about him, I did not even know his name." HURET'S HOUSE HURET ENTERING HOUSE HURET OPENING CUPBOARD BEDROOM DOOR (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "It's someone who would have spoken to him about it, a volunteer who put the idea in his head, saying it would be super easy to take a boat and cross by boat. When he brought up the idea with me, I said it's crazy." DANNES, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) SEA WITH WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER SEEN THROUGH TALL GRASS SPEED BOAT AT SEA FARMLAND AND HOUSES BY THE SEA WIERRE-EFROY, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "I started to read English newspapers, and there I saw on article - three Iranians saved in the middle of the sea, on the English side. So, three Iranians saved while crossing by boat, I told myself, there are no three other Iranians who attempted to cross that morning. I had a sigh of relief, it's over, they're alive. They're alive." CALAIS, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) POLICE VAN ON ROAD, SEEN FROM CAR (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING WHILE DRIVING: "I explained to him (Mokhtar) the government was determined and we could not do anything. The proof of the dismantling, these poor kids, we can see they are minors, they are everywhere. They are taking the same path to the Jungle even though there is no Jungle anymore." CALAIS, FRANCE (JUNE 14, 2017) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WALKING IN PARK MIGRANT SLEEPING ON BENCH MIGRANTS EATING MIGRANTS TALKING TO EACH OTHER WIERRE-EFROY, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "For me, since the beginning, it was not something reprehensible. I knew I should not do it but I did not imagine there would be such consequences. What I expect from the court is that they know I did this out of love, that yes, it is obvious. And according to their investigation, I think that is not a concern. What I expect is for them to cancel the charges of 'organised gang', this is what bothers me the most, is to be put in the same sack as those who made people pay for the crossing, who profited from the misery of refugees." CALAIS, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) CALAIS TOWN HALL BOOKSHOP HURET WALKING TOWARDS SHELF AND TAKING BOOK ABOUT HER RELATIONSHIP FROM SHELF VARIOUS OF HURET READING BOOK WIERRE-EFROY, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "This book was done because I wanted to leave a trace of my story with Mokhtar, and also to get things moving and make people think, that's the first goal. And also maybe there are people in a similar situation as me, and after reading the book, they will tell themselves they should think and maybe stop listening to everything they hear and all the fodder that they give on social media, all this hatred. And we will maybe decide to meet the other and get to know his life a little bit, and know why he is here." CALAIS, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) BOOK COVER WITH TITLE (French) "CALAIS MY LOVE" CALAIS PORT, FROM WHERE HURET LEAVES EVERY TWO WEEKS TO MEET MOKHTAR IN THE U.K. SCREEN SHOWING FERRY SCHEDULES FROM CALAIS TO DOVER HURET ENTERING PORT WIERRE-EFROY, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AID VOLUNTEER WHO IS BEING CHARGED FOR TRAFFICKING MIGRANTS ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL, BEATRICE HURET, SAYING: "We think that distance dulls the emotions but no it gets stronger each time. It's stronger and stronger. As for the rest we don't talk about it. We live it day by day, just like this story started." DANNES, FRANCE (JUNE 15, 2017) (REUTERS) WAVES CRASHING ON SHORE HURET WALKING ON BEACH
- Embargoed: 5th July 2017 14:38
- Keywords: migrant channel Beatrice Huret Mokhtar Britain United Kingdom Iran Jungle Calais
- Location: CALAIS, DANNES & WIERRE-EFFROY, FRANCE
- City: CALAIS, DANNES & WIERRE-EFFROY, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0066M8L83R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: She once supported France's anti-immigrant National Front party. She met and fell in love with Mokhtar, a teacher who fled Iran and ended up in Calais. She now risks 10 years in jail.
Beatrice Huret, a former nursing aide who voted and even campaigned for the National Front, regrets nothing of her unlikely encounter - except that she is accused of people trafficking and could be put behind bars.
"I knew I should not do it but I did not imagine there would be such consequences," says Huret, whose case will be ruled on by a court next week.
"They know I did this out of love," she told Reuters. "What bothers me the most, is to be put in the same sack as those who made people pay for the crossing, who profited from the misery of refugees."
Mokhtar, who wants his family name withheld because he fears jeopardising his situation, now lives in England on the opposite side of the sea from Calais, the French port city from which thousands like him have sought to reach Britain, many without success.
He crossed the English Channel in a small boat he bought for a 1,000 euros ($1,115) and which Huret helped him choose, setting out with two others from the village of Dannes about 50 km south of Calais and a similar distance from the shores of England.
"I said farewell to him that morning," says Huret, a little wistfully. "I did not say until next time, I said farewell. I was sure I was never going to see him again."
Mokhtar and Huret was a meeting against all odds.
Her deceased husband had been a policeman who also voted for the National Front, a party that says France has no duty to welcome migrants who have fled to Europe in record numbers from war and strife in Africa and the Middle East.
Huret, who now devotes her time to aiding needy people, once even handed out leaflets for the party of Marine Le Pen, who lost the presidential election to centrist Emmanuel Macron last month, but won a seat in parliament along with seven other National Front politicians in a follow-up parliamentary election on June 18.
Politics aside, the encounter would almost certainly never have happened if Huret had not stopped to offer hitchhikers a ride in her car to the entrance of The Jungle, a vast camp the hitcher shared with thousands of migrants, among them Mokhtar.
Shocked at the squalor she saw, Huret chose to take action, launching an appeal for funds to aid Jungle residents, visiting the site again and meeting Mokhtar, one of several camp dwellers who had stitched their lips together to draw media attention to their plight.
That was in March 2016.
"We exchanged glances and something immediately clicked. It clicked," she reminisces.
When asked some time later to put a few migrants up in her house, Huret discovered one of them was the same Mokhtar.
Overcoming their language barrier with the help of Google Translate, she grew closer to Mokhtar and his companion, as did her son and mother who lived in the same house.
Walking along the beach from which he set off for Britain in June 2016, Huret said: "People say distance dulls the emotions but no it gets stronger each time. As for the rest we don't talk about it. We live it day by day."
A court is expected to rule on June 27 on Huret's case, where she faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison. She says Mokhtar, a former Farsi language teacher, has applied for asylum in Britain. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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