A revealing insight into the lives of asylum seekers who have fled to Southend is to be shown on television.

Desperately Seeking Asylum, will be shown on BBC 2 tomorrow (Thursday) and follows the lives of three asylum seekers striving for refuge in the resort. Southend is estimated to have around 1,200 asylum seekers, which is one of the biggest concentrations in the country.

Among the asylum seekers featured in the programme is 18-year-old Mohammed Reza Haidari from Afghanistan where the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement has seized most of the country.

Reza's father, a taxi driver, was arrested and tortured to death by the Taliban 18 months ago.

He fled Afghanistan fearing the same would happen to him.

Reza said: "When the Taliban came they started arresting people, the elders and famous people. They came round to our house, I managed to escape to a neighbour's.

"If they sent me back to Afghanistan I would be arrested."

Reza, who is living in a local YMCA, speaks frankly about the hardships and prejudices he faces in everyday life in Southend - as like the rest of the asylum seekers he has been the target of racial taunts.

He is now a student at Basildon College and receives just over £27 a week to pay for food and electricity.

Like all asylum seekers, Reza must prove that his life is in danger in his home country to stay.

So far this year there have been around 63,000 applications nationally for asylum - three times the number of applications two years ago.

But regulations are strict and around 75 per cent of these will eventually be sent home.

Also featuring in tomorrow's programme is Fazir who escaped to the safety of Southend from civil war in East Africa, leaving behind her family and friends. The mother-of-one said: "I know some people will think that asylum seekers are coming here because this country is soft or something like that but what they don't realise is just what happened to these people to make them come to this country for safety.

"One of the things that makes it hard is that I am here all by myself."

Matter of Fact - Desperately Seeking Asylum is being screened on BBC 2 at 7.30pm.

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