hate crime Archives - Migrant tales

Suspected hate crimes in Finland soar to a new record in 2024

Posted on November 10, 2025November 11, 2025 by Migrant Tales

As Migrant Tales correcty predicted, 2024 was going to report a new record in suspected hate crimes after 2023 broke a new record. Suspected hate crimes,* (1) which is only a tip of the iceberg, soared in 2024 by 12.58% to 1,808 cases versus 1,606 cases the previous year, according to the Police University College.

As in 2023, the majority (67.6%) of cases were due on ethnic and national origin, rising by 12% to 1,223 cases from 1,092 cases. While hate crime due to religion retreated by 8.75 to 158 cases (8.7% of all cases), hate crime due to disability soared by 36.7% to 175 (9.67%) cases with sexual orientation totalling 241 (13.3%), up 12.09%.

The report cited Muslims and Syrians in particular as the most victimized groups.

Source: Police University College

“Jenita Ranta, the author of the report, blamed the record rise of hate crime cases in 2023 on factors like Russian aggression in Ukraine and the poor economic situation. While the report did not cite specific reasons for the new rise in hate crimes in Finland, it’s clear that the economy and the weak response of the government to racism are at the heart of the problem.”

Some see the National Coalition Party (NCP) as the enabler of the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS)* extreme immigration policy, which constantly labels Muslims and other minorities as “the problem.”

But it would be misleading to just blame the government and the economy for the rise in suspected hate crimes. The media is another culprit that rarely challenges and gives a voice to migrants and minorities.

(1) The Police University College report defines suspected hate crimes as reports where a hate motive is manifest. In 2024, the number of suspected hate crimes increased in all motive groups in the report, except for crimes related to religion or belief. The most common motive was the victim’s ethnic or national background.

Suspected hate crimes soar to a record level in Finland in 2023

Posted on October 10, 2024October 13, 2024 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

A record number of suspected hate crimes* were reported in 2023, rising by 28.99% to 1,606 cases compared with 1,245 cases the previous year, according to the Police University College. The author of the report, Jenita Ranta, blamed “societal factors” like the Russian aggression in Ukraine, and the poor economic situation of people that fuel hate crime.

Ranta talks about these above factors but is silent about an obvious factor: racism in Finland.

Moreover, if last year was a record, we expect 2024 to be another record year when it comes to hate crimes.

The hate crimes reported to the police are only the tip of the iceberg.

As in previous years, hate crimes due to ethnic or national background stood at 68% of all hate crimes, rising last year by 17.42% to 1,092 cases versus 930 cases. That was followed by hate crimes on the grounds of religion or belief (10.3% of all hate crimes), which jumped by 36.36% to 165 cases.

By national group, the Somalis were one of the most affected by hate crimes as were Muslims.

The majority of hate crimes were physical assaults and verbal insults.

Source: Police University College

“Under this group, the biggest group of victims were Muslims. In the statistics on last year’s hate crime reports, it is noteworthy that for the first time ever, there were more suspected hate crimes against Jews or Jewishness than there were suspected hate crimes against Christians. However, Islamic people were most commonly targeted,” according to the Police University College.

Hate crimes committed against sexual minorities (10.6% of all hate crimes) rose by 53.57% to 215 cases, while disability (8%) saw the biggest rise, soaring 137.04% to 128 cases.

*”In general terms, hate crime is a crime motivated by prejudice or hostility towards the victim’s ethnic or national origin. The crime may also be targeted at members of the majority population.” Police University College

Reports show a rise of racism in Finland and Europe but politicians continue to look the other way

Posted on October 26, 2023October 27, 2023 by Migrant Tales

It isn’t surprising why the government of Petter Orpo has paid so little attention to two reports that continue to shine a dark light on Finland: The 2022 suspected hate crime report by the Police University College of Finland, and Being Black in the EU by the Europen Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Migrant Tales view: Like a furious one-two punch, thanks to two reports, Europe and especially Finland continue to see a rise of racism with near-silence and little outrage. Could we call it the Frontex syndrome? We are aware of the problem, but we turn a blind eye because we don’t really care or want to be bothered.
Finland’s hostile government to immigrants, comprising the National Coalition Party, Perussuomalaiset*, Swedish People’s Party and Christian Democrats, is the least apt to tackle the social ill. Matters can only get worse from here.

In the suspected hate crime report for 2022, the number of suspected hate crimes reported to the police in 2022 rose by 21.3% to 1,245 cases from 1,026 in the previous year. The lion’s share of hate crimes was due to ethnic and national background (74.7%), up by 31.7% to 930 from 706, and religion and belief (9.7%), down to 121 from 133.

Sexual orientation accounted for 8.7% of all suspected hate crimes, rising 11.1% to 140 with disability falling 11.5% to 54 cases.

The Police University College said that those with Russian citizenship experienced the highest frequency of crimes concerning national background. Even so, Somalis and Iraqis continue to rank high in suspected hate-crime statistics. Eleven percent of all offenses were directed at the Romany minority.

Concerning religion or belief, the most common victims, as in previous years, were Muslims.

Being Black in the EU

Like the 2018 report, the latest FRA report continue to offer bad news for countries like Finland, Germany, and Austria, which reported the highest prevalence of racial harassment in the past 12 months by people of African descent (PAD).

Twitter @HerraAhmed: Assaulted at a restaurant

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Migrant Tales

We are sorry to hear about what happened to you. Abdirisak Ahmed (@HerraAhmed) Tweets:

This is what it looks when you are assaulted at a restaurant because of the color of your skin. Thank you #apolloliveclub bouncers for your quick response. I never thought I’d be in this situation being over 30 years old. This will cost me a month of work. “

We hope that the perpetrator(s) will face justice. In Finland, this may be better said than done.

In June 2020, a group of Finns attacked an Iraqi student in Western Finland. Below is how the police watered down the case:

Its long 26-month length;
Not all of the suspects were questioned by the police;
No hate crime charges were brought; racism had nothing to do with the cause of the incident;
Only one person was convicted;
The district court judge gave his sentence on the same day as the trial began, which is extremely rare in Finland.

Were all these factors due to limited police resources?

Yes, let’s HOPE that the police resolve this matter swiftly and bring justice to the victim.

How Finland plays down hate crime and miscarriages of justice

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Migrant Tales

If there is something to reinforce from the Southern Ostrobothnia district court ruling of the Fares Al-Abaidi case, it is the following: In some cases, the police and the courts play down racist crime. The sentence was a miscarriage of justice.

Al-Abaidi has appealed the ruling.

Why is the ruling a travesty?

Because racism is a toxic component of Finland’s police and justice system.

Imagine scores of people attacked Al-Abaidi in June 2020, but only one person was convicted for assault. Racism was not a motive for what happened.

The Iraqi youth’s case is an example of hair-splitting and a miscarriage of justice.

If the authorities are to be believed, racism was not what motivated the attack. The vandalized car that had mamu (a racist term for migrant) sprayed on its side does not prove anything because they never found the suspect.

No racist motive spells no hate crime, full stop.

Fares Al-Abaidi: “I was very disappointed [with the sentence, and] it was a very, very bad decision.”

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Fares Al-Abaidi got a hard lesson on Wednesday from the Southern Ostrobothnia district court on Finnish justice: only one person was convicted after a group of white Finns attacked him in June 2020. That person, PV, was forced to pay Al-Abaidi about 3,900 euros for his suffering.

“He got away with only a fine while my life changed completely,” he said. “I was very disappointed [with the sentence],” he admitted. “It was a very, very bad decision.”

Al-Abaidi said that his lawyer had appealed the court decision.

Some questions arise when looking at the case.

Its long 26-month length;
Not all of the suspects were questioned by the police;
No hate crime charges were brought; racism had nothing to do with the cause of the incident;
The district court judge gave his sentence on the same day as the trial began, which is extremely rare in Finland.

Were all these factors due to limited police resources?

Fares Al-Obaidi’s car after it was vandalized in June 2020. The police did not rule out a hate crime back then. Source: *Migrant Tales*

He said that only one person was sentenced because he was the only one who admitted to hitting him.

“Nobody else admitted anything,” he added. “I don’t know why the police chose to charge only one person. I told my attorney that it wasn’t only one person [who attacked me]. There were more than one.”

Two stories that reveal a lot about racism in Finland

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Two stories that expose injustice and denial in Finland became public this week: First, the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland ruled Thursday that the police ethnically profiled singer Musta Barbari’s mother and sister in July 2016. The other news is about an Iraqi youth who white Finns violently attacked in July 2020.

Both cases are not only concerning but revealing. Ethnic profiling and suspected hate crime cases drag their feet in Finland’s legal system. Musta Barbari’s mother and sister finally saw justice after six years, while Fares Al-Obaidi’s case was decided by a court two years and two months later.

The legal path of Musta Barbari’s mother and sister to the Supreme Administrative Court was long and winding:

Case Teuva: Prosecutor to bring charges probably next week – hate crime or not?

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The state prosecutor plans to make public the charges against the perpetrators who attacked Fares Al-Obaidi over two-and-a-half years ago in June 2020 in Teuva, a town in Western Finland. The big question is whether the prosecutor sees what happened as a hate crime.

The Finnish penal code does not recognize the term “hate crime.” Section 5 of the Finnish criminal code, however, gives grounds for increasing punishment if the crime’s motive was “based on race, skin colour, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or another corresponding grounds.”

I spoke to the victim, Al-Obaidi, about his thoughts before the prosecutor makes public, probably next week, the charges against the suspects.

Here are some factors that I hope the prospecutor has taken into account:

The victim is a Muslim; The victim is a Muslim;
The perception of the victim is that he would have probably never have suffered such a violent attack if he were a white Finn;
Racist insults like mamu (a derogatory term for migrant) and the n-word were hurled at him by the attackers;
Some attackers knew Al-Abaidi’s religion and asked him to seek help from his God, Allah, while they attacked him;
Even if mamu was spray painted on his car, the vehicle was also vandalized. The police claim that their investigation did not find the suspect(s) who spraypainted the victim’s car;
The victim says that the incident changed his life, forcing him to suffer several disorders like from sleeping and concentration, among others;
Al-Albaidi’s mother, sister, and foreign community members were shaken by what happened. His sister fears going outdoors;
Not only was the victim attacked, but his friend’s wife, whom they insulted in a demeaning manner by trolling and calling her a “whore” to foreigners (suvakkihuora) on Facebook.

Denying that racism was not a factor is playing down what happened. What happened to Al-Abaidi was allegedly made worse due to his ethnic background.

The victims car was vandalized and spraypainted. Source: *Migrant Tales*

Helsinki court of appeal increases involuntary manslaughter sentence to nine years for stabbing Somali-Finnish youth

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

The Helsinki court of appeal* has increased Miro Pesonen’s involuntary manslaughter conviction to a nine-year prison term from five years previously and pay to the parents 10,000 euros for their suffering, according to Yle. Pesonen is a white Finn who stabbed Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh at Kannelmäki Helsinki railway station in April 2020.

The mother of the victim told Migrant Tales in December that she was not happy with Pesonen’s five-year prison sentence and that she had appealed the sentence.

**Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh was stabbed and killed on April 26, 2020 at the Kanneläki train station of Helsinki. The police did not consider the death a hate crime. Source: Facebook**

Two important questions remain unanswered from the case: Why the district court had sentenced Pesonen to five years, and what role did the police have in this.
Was it a hate crime?

The victim’s mother said that her son’s killer was intimidated by his dark skin and because he was tall physically.

“If a foreigner did something small [crime] at an R-Kiosk, a big commotion would emerge,” she said in December. “If a foreigner would have done what happened to my son, he’d receive a tough sentence and be deported from the country.

*Correction in the original story should read court of appeal, not district court. Thank you Ambrosius Wollstén.

Seinäjoki police wrapping up their suspected hate crime investigation. Charges are expected this month.

Posted on February 6, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The Seinäjoki police, which had taken over a year and eight months to investigate a crime when Fares Al-Obaidi was attacked by over ten people from the Western Finnish town of Teuva, plans to bring charges this month, according to the victim. The incident happened on June 6, 2020 when over ten suspected townspeople from the Western Finnish town of Teuva physically attacked Al-Obaidi. His car was later vandalized.

Al-Obaidi was questioned by the police earlier last month, and one of the surprising matters that turned up was that the suspects, who attacked the young Iraqi, allege that they were provoked and attacked.

“I denied this to the police,” he explained. “I made it clear [to the investigating police officer, Aki Perämäki] that it was the townspeople of Teuva who started the incident [and attacked me].”

Al-Obaidi added that the police are accusing him of petty assault.

“My lawyer said at the questioning that even if they find you guilty of petty assault, it is not serious and you did so because you were defending yourself from the attackers,” he said.

One of the matters to watch closely, in this case, is if the Seinäjoki police will charge the suspects with a hate crime. The police said previously that what happened could well be a hate crime.

**Not only was Fares Al-Obaidiattacked by over 10 people in Teuvaa on June 3, 2020, but his car was also vandalized as well. Source: Facebook**