Asylum seeker in detention cell 208: Two pictures, two views of the Joutseno immigration removal center

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Below are two pictures were taken of a window from the immigration removal center in the southeastern Finnish town Joutseno*. The photo on the left was taken on Thursday and the one on the right in November. 

Think about it. An asylum seeker travels hell and high water to come to a country in Finland. The trip is also costly. What are the last images if you get deported? A cell window and an airport.

Amnesty International published today its 2017/2018 report, and it doesn’t write pretty things about how Finland treats asylum seekers.

It states:

“Despite international NGOs raising concern, Finland continued to forcibly return asylum- seekers whose applications were rejected to Afghanistan.”

Forced deportations and the general situation of asylum seekers and migrants in Finland shows how much we have shut off empathy for coldness.

There is today in Finland a moral crisis that also inflicts the rest of Europe.

How can we claim to be a nation that loves freedom and upholds human rights if we deny others such rights?

* The asylum seeker who was locked up in this cell thought he was in Lappeenranta but in fact he was at the Joutseno immigration removal center located 20km away.

Migrant Tales Literary: The moon and me by Saboora

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Saboora* is a young Iraqi asylum seeker who turns to art to write about her long and painful journey from the Middle East to Finland. In the painting below, which she calls “The moon and me,” is about an asylum seeker, a leafless tree, and the moon. 

Saboora doesn’t deny that the person in the painting could be her.

“Since I have no-one to talk to and nobody understands what I want to say,” she said, “the only one I can talk to is the moon.”

The “Moon and me” by Saboora.

*Saboora’s real name has been changed because she is an asylum seeker.

See also:

The story of two asylum seekers in Finland: Aerzo’s and Saboora’s three drawings

CORRECTION: A Moroccan asylum seeker who was sentenced to a year in prison attempts suicide

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales understands that a Moroccan asylum seeker attempted to take his life at the Joutseno* immigration removal center. The man was doing a one-year sentence of which he had served eight months. 

In an earlier story, we said incorrectly that the asylum seeker had taken his life. He is allegedly in the hospital recovering.

“He was taken to the hospital Wednesday night after he hanged himself in his cell,” said the source. “He is supposed to be deported [back to his home country].”

Two pictures of the Joutseno immigration removal center taken from cell 406 in 2017.

* The asylum seeker who was locked up in this cell thought he was in Lappeenranta but in fact he was at the Joutseno immigration removal center located 20km away.

Migrant Tales Literary: Dedicated to asylum seeker in cell 406*

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Dana

I have some questions for both the Finnish people and foreigners who live in Finland.

What do you think about laws that work against humanity?

About laws that send you to your execution? Those laws are policies that take the person and kill him /her with a gun or with a rope.

What is the difference between a judge who makes decision to execute you, a human being, and a person who is doing this for a judge and the law?

The view from cell 406 in November. He is now in cell number 208.

Which one is guiltier? The judge or the person who is hired for the job?

This is the 21st century, Finland claims many things but there is an execution law in Finland, a jail law, a cell law, a torture law against asylum seekers, refugees…

Continue reading “Migrant Tales Literary: Dedicated to asylum seeker in cell 406*”

Asylum seeker in detention cell 406: “I will be deported on Monday”

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The asylum seeker in detention cell 406, who is a twenty-one-year-old Iraqi, said that he’d be deported on Monday, February 26 from Finland.

“The same woman police officer who said she was going to fly with me to Iraq in October, said that I would be flown back on Monday,” he said by phone. “The woman police told me this when we were both smoking [this morning].”

The asylum seeker couldn’t confirm if the deporation would take place from Lappeenranta airport.

Read the full story here.

You can read his past stories below:

Asylum seeker in detention cell 406: “I’ll either be sent to Lappeenranta or Joutseno”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We heard the sad news about the twenty-one-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who was detained by the police Tuesday in Mikkeli, Finland.

Imagine going through the same ordeal as last year, when he was detained in Mikkeli on October 23-27 and then sent to Lappeenranta and freed 32 days later on November 23.

“They put me in a second cell [in Mikkeli] which is the same cell I was in |back in October],” he told by phone. “I’ll either be sent to Lappeenranta or Joutseno [immigration detention center].”

In a police detention, it is a bad sign for the asylum seeker if they take his clothes and belongings with him.

“I don’t have many belongings because I’ve moved around so much,” he said.

The asylum seeker said that he was taken to the same cell at the Mikkeli police station. Photo by asylum seeker.

If you want to write to the asylum seeker you can send your messages to [email protected] or [email protected]

You can read his past stories below:

 

“Asylum seeker in detention cell 406” was detained again by the police and faces deportation to Iraq

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“Asylum seeker in detention cell 406,” who was detained in Lappeenranta for 32 days last year was detained by the police Tuesday morning at around 10 am at the Suonsaari asylum reception center, located about 10km from the city of Mikkeli. Migrant Tales understands that the administrative court rejected his appeal for asylum. 

“I will go to a court, and they will decide if they deport me or not,” he said on the phone. “Then they will send me back to Lappeenranta.”

The twenty-one-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker was freed from detention on November 23.

“I don’t know what to say because I’m so happy because I’m happy to be free again,” he said back then on being released. “I don’t have any words to describe what I’m feeling. It’s a bit confusing.”

 

A message from the asylum seeker today.

Matters look bleak, but we can’t lose hope.

Migrant Tales will keep you up to date about the asylum seeker’s fate.

 

The National Police Board lets itself off the hook concerning a racist Facebook group

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Does the Finnish police service have a racism problem? Remember in June when a scoop by Long Play exposed a secret Finnish police Facebook group that dwelt in racist and bigoted comments? It wasn’t just any Facebook group since it consisted of over 2,800 members or about one-third  of Finland’s police service. 

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehminen tweets below: “We resolved the matter of [the secret] Facebook [page]. We have taken official steps, and others are ongoing [to solve this matter]. I don’t accept racism or discrimination in any shape or form.”

Credible?
In a statement, the police condemn all forms of racism and discrimination, states that it has updated its gender equality a non-discrimination plan as well as its guidelines on how the police show participate in social media platforms. Other steps include:

•”A new equality and diversity plan for the police was approved on 26 June 2017

•The guidelines on police activity on the social media have been updated

•Since 1 December 2017, the police have also adopted a so-called ethical channel, which enables anonymous whistle blowing on unethical behaviour for the police force’s own staff

•Mandatory social media training for all police personnel is under preparation, which will draw particular attention to the obligation of the police to observe the rules of good conduct

•The values of the police have been included as part of the development discussions of all police employees up to 2018

•The case has been considered by the police’s national management group – all police units have been instructed to intervene on a zero-tolerance basis in cases of racism, discrimination, or other inappropriate behaviour.

The National Police Board will closely monitor the need for further follow-up measures.”

While this is the least that we could expect from the National Police Board in light of what happened, they fall far too short and only aim to maintain the status quo. Considering how many police were members of the Facebook group, it is surprising that no charges were filed by the state prosecutor and that only one, yes, one, police officer was handed “a serious written admonition for inappropriate conduct in an unofficial, closed Facebook group.”

Continue reading “The National Police Board lets itself off the hook concerning a racist Facebook group”

Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires

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Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s hardline asylum and immigration policy reminded me of the 1980s when former Aliens Office director Eila Kännö’s tough line against migrants turned against her. I see the same thing happening today with the government’s asylum and immigration policy.

People react when a system is impractical and unfair. It is precisely what happened in the 1980s and what is happening today when an Iraqi asylum seeker called Ali was killed in Iraq.

Other Iraqis have suffered similar fates as reported in 2016.

How can the Finnish Immigration Service continue to claim that countries like Iraq and Afghanistan are safe when they’re not.

In the 1980s and earlier, migrants, who were called “aliens,” had to get residence and work permit for each job.

We all know that the tightening of present immigration policy has the signature of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and Blue Reform parties. The strategy is ineffective because it hinges on myths and prejudices which end up falling flat on their faces.

In order for immigration to work you need effective and fair policies. The ones we have in Finland now are shameful to put it lightly. One of these is the government’s decision to do away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds, which have forced the number of undocumented migrants to soar manyfold as a result.

Not only are there signs that matters are turning against the government’s asylum and immigration policy, but abroad as well. A  French court ruled that it could not send an asylum seeker back to Finland because it returned them to Iraq and put in harm’s way.

Back in the good old racist days of the 1980s, laws such as the Restricting Act of 1939 (law 219/1939), which became redundant in 1992, prohibited foreigners from owning real estate and acquiring a majority stake in Finnish companies—limiting this to 20% normally and 40% under special permission. The Restricting Act stipulated that foreigners could not own shares in sectors like forestry, securities trading, transportation, mining, real estate and shipping. Foreigners weren’t allowed to establish newspapers, never mind organize demonstrations and be politically active.

Were such restrictions effective? What role did they play in keeping Finland a closed country to the outside world? Were they in conflict with our sense of justice and fairness?

White Finnish privilege #49

When a government like Sipilä’s goes too far and treats asylum seekers with disrespect and breaches their human rights, it’s clear that such a policy will eventually backfire in their faces.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires”