Man who fled Ethiopia set to race against Sir Mo Farah

An Ethiopian man who was granted asylum in Northern Ireland after enduring torture and enforced labour before risking his life to reach Europe on a dinghy will represent his adopted country when he races against Sir Mo Farah in August. Eskander Turki, 29, has a “dream life” in Belfast, where he met his wife, chef Amina Ahmed, 25, in the summer of 2021 and works as an ice cream maker, as he honing his prowess at 5km and 10km. It is a sharp contrast to life in Ethiopia, where he was imprisoned for six months in 2010 in an underground cell for attending a protest while studying electrical engineering at college and claims he was “tortured, burned and beaten”.