Asylum seeker detained at the Joutseno immigration removal center: “I should go to my wife who is pregnant”   

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In Joutseno, located 20km north of the southeastern Finnish city of Lappeenranta, is Finland’s second immigration removal center after Helsinki’s Metsälä. It is a place where Finland even locks up families with children and where suicides happen.

Finland does this because it sees immigration as a threat. This fact is the basis of the country’s oppressive immigration policy, especially towards asylum seekers.

Cases of human tragedy abound at Joutseno irrespective of sex, age, national origin, and marital status.

Below, is a picture of a minor looking out the window at the Joutseno immigration removal center.

Read the full story here.

One of these asylum seekers is an Iraqi who has been locked up since February 2.

Like many of his countrymen, he too came to Finland in 2015. Contrary to other asylum seekers at Joutseno, he is married to a Finnish woman who is expecting a child.

A view of the Joutseno immigration removal center yard from his cell. Photo by the asylum seeker.

The asylum seeker’s problems with the Finnish immigration authorities started in February 2017.* After they detained him in Pori during that month, they sent him to Turku. The police said that even if he was married to a Finn, it wouldn’t be grounds to stop the deportation.

Continue reading “Asylum seeker detained at the Joutseno immigration removal center: “I should go to my wife who is pregnant”   “

Finding help if you are a victim of a hate crime is difficult in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There was a horrible attack against a Pakistani father of two over on February 23. Just to get an idea of the wounds he sustained on that terrible night, it took last week four hours to remove his stitches. 

What would have happened if the attackers were three Pakistanis who attacked a white Finn in such a vile manner? What would be the public’s and media’s reaction?

We got an example of this in 2015 when Finnish youths of non-white background sexually assaulted a white woman in the Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila.

Reporting on such a terrible story is difficult. I still remember a plea that the Pakistani victim told the attackers as he laid on the ground: “Please don’t kill me, I have two children.”

A Pakistani was attacked by three white Finns on February 23 and was near death. Pictured published with the permission of the victim. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

Getting justice in Finland from a suspected hate crime is difficult.

Continue reading “Finding help if you are a victim of a hate crime is difficult in Finland”

Pakistanis, Muslims, feel insecure in Finland after dreadful attack against a migrant

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The brutal attack against a Pakistani on Friday night (February 23) must be one of the worst-ever against a migrant. It took four hours last week to remove his stitches. As a result of what happened, the Pakistani and Muslim communities of Finland don’t feel safe.  

Even if the police made no mention of it in a statement, Detective Chief Inspector Mikko Minkkinen is quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Helsingin Sanomat that what happened less than a week and a half ago it is not a hate crime.

If this is the case, and considering the gravity of the attack against the victim, the police should tell the Pakistani, Muslim, and migrant community of Finland how they arrived at such a conclusion.

Migrant Tales published Thursday a story on how the police in Ireland use bias indicators to decide if an attack is a hate crime or not.

Why isn’t it a hate crime? Were the attackers intoxicated? You can be drunk and commit a hate crime. It doesn’t preclude it or stops a group of people from stabbing an innocent victim over 20 times and hitting him on the head with an ax and cause double skull fractures.

One of the words repeatedly used by the attackers against the victim was vittu, the Finnish term for the f-word.

If the crime was horrendous, it has shaken the Pakistani and Muslim community of Finland.

The wife of the victim said that she’s afraid to go outdoors after what happened to her husband.

“Before it was nothing out of the ordinary to go outdoors,” she continued. “Now I must be careful.”

 

One of the many wounds that the victim endured from his attackers. Picture published with the permission of the victim. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.

Another Pakistani, who visited the victim in the hospital on Sunday, said that there is concern in the Muslim community for their safety.

“When people heard about this thing [the attack],” he said, “they became afraid and feel insecure when they go out at night.”

The Pakistani said that he would never walk through a forest at night again as in the past.

“I have two options: to walk 3-4 kilometers or take a shortcut through the forest,” he continued. “I would rather walk 3-4 kilometers.”

Another Somali Muslim said that he has always felt insecure in places where there are few migrants.

“In East Helsinki [where I used to live], I don’t feel in danger because there are so many people like myself,” he said, adding that the attack against the Pakistani in Vantaa is confirmation that Finland is a dangerous place for Muslims and migrants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onko verojen välttely hyve, jos sitä tekee ”oikea suomalainen”?

Posted on by Reija Härkönen

Suomessa on aina ollut todella vaikea löytää kohtuuhintaista putkimiestä tai sähkömiestä. Hyvinkäälle muuttaessamme käytimme sähköliikettä, joka vaihtoi pesukoneen pistotulpan ja veloitti 320 markkaa. Olen joskus kysynyt naapureilta vinkkiä hyvistä sähkömiehistä, ja olen saanutkin, mutta laskutusvaiheeseen päästäessä on aina käynyt ilmi, että he haluavat rahat suoraan käteen. Jonkun putkimiehen olen saanut pitkin hampain kirjoittamaan laskun, mutta seuraavalla kerralla on ollut tyytyminen käteismaksuun. Monesti, kun alkaa etsiä ammattimiestä, saa etsiä kauan. Sanovat, että soita sille yhdelle Virtaselle, se on hypännyt näitä pikkukeikkoja.

Kaikki me tiedämme, että isolla osalla kampaajista ja partureista on kotikäyntien sivubisnes. Pienet rakennus- ja maalauskeikat hoituvat myös ”kaveriapuna”. Harvemmin talkoina, kuten ennen vanhaan, vaan kunnon palkkaa maksaen, mutta ”säästyyhän siinä sitten arvonlisäverolta”. Ja kukapa näihin uskaltaa puuttua, pieni maa, sana kulkee ja kun seuraavan kerran olet pulassa, voi osaavan tekijän löytäminen olla entistä hankalampaa.

Moni on minullekin, sisustussuunnittelijalle, ehdottanut käteismaksua. Jotkut ovat ajatelleet, että haluavat antaa minulle vähän isomman rahan kiitokseksi hyvästä työstä. Toiset taas itse saavansa sen siten halvemmalla. Kun 14 vuotta sitten aloittelin yritystoimintaa, eräs kyselijä piti pitkän saarnan siitä, kuinka hölmö olen, kun suotta rasitan valtion byrokratiaa yhden naisen yrityksen pienillä liikevaihtoveroilla.

Kuutamourakat ovat maan tapa. Valtava määrä verorahaa jää valtiolta saamatta. Osaavista ammattimiehistä, jotka suostuvat keräämään elantonsa pienemmistä keikoista, on pulaa – miksi meillä pidetään niin suurta älämölöä siitä, että yritteliäät virolaiset saavat kattourakoita? Missä viipyvät meidän markkinoiltamne puolalaiset putkimiehet?

Continue reading “Onko verojen välttely hyve, jos sitä tekee ”oikea suomalainen”?”

“Atrocious” would be a light word to describe the violence against a Pakistani immigrant last week in Vantaa, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Pakistani who suffered a violent attack on Friday in the Finnish city of Vantaa is recovering in hospital. It is a miracle that he survived such a vile attack, according to a nurse who said that the victim was only minutes away from death if help did not have arrived on time. 

We wish the victim well and are not only shocked by what happened but worried about the safety of other visible migrants and minorities in Finland.

Read the original story here.

The Pakistani victim suffered at the hands of three suspected white Finnish youths the following wounds, according to a source close to the victim.

The vile nature of the attack is so horrible that we cannot publish a list of the wounds that the Pakistani is today recovering from.The media has published that the victim was stabbed over 20 times, and suffered multiple fractures on the skull from blows from an ax. The media hasn’t reported as well that the suspects cut pieces of the victim with a knife.

Continue reading ““Atrocious” would be a light word to describe the violence against a Pakistani immigrant last week in Vantaa, Finland”

Pakistani immigrant stabbed in Vantaa: What constitutes a hate crime?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

On Friday night, a Pakistani was brutally attacked by a group of youths and stabbed at least twenty times and repeatedly hit with ax causing, among other injuries, a fractured skull. The police are quiet until Tuesday when it puts out a statement, which does not mention that this may be a hate crime.

If the attack is a hate crime, it is without a doubt one of the worst ever reported in Finland.

But that is not what the police thinks. Detective Chief Inspector Mikko Minkkinen is quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Helsingin Sanomat that it is not a hate crime.

One problem that some see with Minkkinen’s statement is that it is unconvincing and raises questions like if the police have the proper training to deal with hate crimes.

By ruling out that the crime against the Pakistani immigrant didn’t have “racist motives” is a shallow response and raises more concern among migrants and minorities about their safety in this country.

Read the full story here.

Miro del Gaudio, a lawyer at Lex Gaudius, said that the vital matter to establish concerning the crime is the motive.

“Establishing the motive is important,” he said.

A way of establishing motive is to look at Bias, according to a comprehensive OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting manual.

Continue reading “Pakistani immigrant stabbed in Vantaa: What constitutes a hate crime?”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: How the Finnish government ostracizes migrants and asylum seekers

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: How the Finnish government labels and ostracizes in general migrants/asylum seekers in Finland and undocumented migrants in particular. Do you need more proof why Finland is a hostile place for migrants and minorities?  

Finnish posting by Jukka Eräkare:

Read the original text here.

English translation:

“In this context, illegal migrants are defined as persons who have received a negative asylum decision and cannot be returned and do not leave the country on their own will; [they] disappear or are no longer part of the asylum reception center system. In such a case, the foreigner doesn’t have the right to reside in Finland. In this context, the term “undocumented” is a term commonly used but should be avoided.”

 

Could the police tell us why stabbing a Pakistani 20-30 times does not qualify as a suspected hate crime?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There are already some questions concerning the terrible stabbing of a Pakistani in the city of Vantaa on Friday night. One of these is why it took until Tuesday for the police to release a statement? 

Another matter is a quote in Tuesday’s Helsingin Sanomat detective chief inspector, Mikko Minkkinen, who was quoted as saying that it doesn’t believe it is a hate crime.

Fair enough. A Pakistani, who is a visible migrant gets asked for cigarettes by a group of people. Both don’t know each other but the victim ends up stabbed 20-30 times.

I’d be interested in knowing why the detective chief inspector doesn’t believe it was a suspected hate crime.

 

 

Read the full story here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The mood is so bad, so unhealthy, that there is no way to talk rationally,” according to Emma Bonino

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“Sooner or later, we will recognize that we need them [immigrants],” says former Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino. “For the moment the political mood is so bad, so unhealthy, that there is no way to talk rationally.”

Bonino points to a lack of leadership. She states that “escalating incidents of political intolerance on the left and the right, racist attacks that are not adequately challenged, the lack of resilience in institutions, and the mediocrity of leaders.”

Read the full story here.