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"Everything was going well, how I planned all my life," Murshed says, smiling. "But things changed when the Taliban took over.

"Suddenly everything collapsed and we had to go into hiding," the 25-year-old journalist tells the Manchester Evening News .

"I just told my family that I can't come back and I can't tell you where I'm going. Because they could torture them to tell where I am."

Murshed, who is from Afghanistan, is sharing his story because he wants people to know what it's really like to claim asylum in the UK.

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He is part of a group of current and former residents of asylum hotels in Greater Manchester who have spoken out this week .

In a three-page, 1,000-word statement , the group tried to dispel wh

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