TOPLINE
In November, an Iraqi asylum seeker called Ziad* from Jämsänkoski heard the court sentence a man who had threatened him the previous year with a knife and called him a vitun pakolainen (f**king asylum seeker) and vitun ulkomaalainen (f**king foreigner).
KEY FACT
- The verdict? A one-month jail sentence and a 700-euro fine paid to the victim.
KEY BACKGROUND
One of the most significant matters about the case is that it was not considered a hate crime. Ziad does not have an answer to why the police and court did not see that way.
“Surely I am not happy with the sentence,” said the Iraqi asylum seeker. “If I did the same what the man did to me, I’d be in Baghdad now.”
Ziad said that after the court case he no longer trusts the Finnish justice system, never mind the police. He admits, however, that matters would be different if he were a resident.
“An asylum seeker is an animal and becomes a human being in Finland until he gets a residence permit,” he said.
Life has been especially hard for Ziad. At the beginning of December, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) informed him that he would not get a decision on his residence permit at the end of the year as promised.
“This constant sorry-no-decision-you-have-to-wait-a-further six months made me fall ill,” said Ziad. “It was too much for me, and I got a panic attack.”
Ziad says that there is talk among asylum seekers that 90% of the decisions by Migri will be negative.
“I have been waiting for six years for my residence permit and I only have one decision, which was negative,” he continued. “Even if I am 27, I feel like a 47-year-old man who is sick today taking six different medications daily.”
He stated that when he came to Finland, he was a healthy person.
“When I came to Finland [in 2015], I didn’t need medication,” Ziad said. “Now I use two pills for my panic attacks, one blood pressure and heart medicine, and two sleeping pills.”
He added: “I got so many problems, and it is all because of Migri. I am like a car with a lot of problems. You cannot fix it in one day.”
Ziad was sent to a psychiatric ward to help him with His panic attacks in December but was rejected because he did not have a social security number.
“I’ve been employed for the last two and a half years,” he said. “I pay taxes but have no rights.”
*The name was changed to protect their person’s identity.
He or you can order court decision, he has it so ask and publish it. And there is no fine paid to victim as you well know Fine goes to goverment and there cant be fine and jail.
Publish it.
Hi Hannu, you should check your facts before sticking your head out. This is the sentence that the white Finn got for threatening the Iraqi asylum seeker. Moreover, it is unfortunate that it was not treated as a hate crime.
Answer why police or court didnt think its hate crime is in papers, publish those.