The mother of eighteen-year-old Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh, stabbed to death at Kannelmäki Helsinki railway station on April 26, 2020, by a white Finn called Miro Pesonen, is appealing the involuntary manslaughter ruling on September 7, 2020, by the Helsinki District Court.
The mother who said that she had not found the energy to pursue the case because of health issues, believed that the Court of Appeal would decide on their appeal “soon.”
Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh was stabbed and killed on April 26 at the Kanneläki train station of Helsinki. The police did not consider the death a hate crime.Source: Facebook
She added that at the time of the death of her son, she felt abandoned by the authorities, the Somali and foreign community.
“I was all alone,” she added. “I felt abandoned by the authorities, the Somali and foreign community.”
“We appealed the decision of the Helsinki District Court and are hoping to raise the conviction to 9-10 years from 5 years now,” she added.
It should not surprise us that anti-Semitism is also on the rise in Finland. An article in Kirkko ja kaupunki revealed the cost of security needed at the Helsinki Synagogue has soared between 2017 and 2021. Yaron Nadbornik, president of the 1,100-strong Jewish community of Helsinki, was quoted as saying that the cost of security at the synagogue has jumped from 200,000 euros in 2017 to 450,000 euros in 2021.
Personal donation targets have also risen sharply, from 15,000 euros to 50,000 euros.
He said: “The purpose of our community is not to maintain security, but to maintain Jewish life in Finland and especially in Helsinki. In the past, it was not known precisely how much money was spent on security because it was not a meaningful metric that we followed closely.”
Nadbornik added that the accounting system to monitor security was changed three years ago giving a more precise view of such costs.
In an interview last year, the president of the Jewish community of Helsinki said that only recently the police have acknowledged that there is an anti-Semitism problem in Finland.
“The authorities have recognized during 2018-2019 that there is an anti-Semitism problem in Finland,” he said. “Before, it was [for them] pretty unclear if such a matter existed.”
In 2017, Nadbornik blamed the government and police of Finland for not doing enough to clamp down on hate speech, which was directly linked to anti-Semitism.
In the interview with Kirkko ja kaupunki, he stated that the police understand the threat of physical harm, but if somebody paints a Nazi symbol on the synagogue’s wall it is not treat it as a hate crime.
In many parts of the world, racist graffiti is considered a hate crime.
We recommend that the Jewish Community of Helsinki ask the police why they don’t treat racist graffiti like a swastika a hate crime.
Suspected hate crimes reported to the police in Finland during2020 totaled 852 cases, which is a 5.22% fall from 899 hate crimes in the previous year, according to the Police University College.
As in previous years, the lion’s share (88.5%) of all hate crimes were motivated by national-ethnic origin (649/75.8% of all cases) and religion (108/12.7%). That was followed by sexual orientation (68/5.4%) and disability (30/3.5%).
During the year under review, the Roma minority saw a rise of 34% to 79 suspected cases.
One explanation for the rise is that the Roma in Finland has started to report discrimination cases to the authorities. A good example is to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.
Radical-right Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party MP, Sebastian Tynkkynen, who has two ethnic agitation convictions and a third pending, is trying to get the most political mileage from an incident at an #elokapina demonstration.
Some unknown persons at the demonstration allegedly attempted to attack Tynkkynen and shoved him. The police asked if the MP wanted to press charges, and he said it wasn’t necessary apparently because nothing serious happened.
All types and forms of violence should be condemned, but why are the PS making up a big fuss about the incident? The whole affair, in my opinion, appears like a storm in a teacup.
The incident with Tynkkynen overlooks other forms of verbal and physical abuse and violence that the PS have promoted for years and continue to spread.
Why don’t we see more leadership among politicians? What about the media? Why don’t they openly condemn racism, and especially Islamophobia, and appear worried about the growth of these social ills thanks to the likes of Tynkkynen and the PS?
White Finnish privilege #80
The answer to the above question lies in the double-standards of our society made possible thanks to white Finnish privilege.
Violence against white Finns gets a lot more attention than what migrants and minorities see.
Remember the young Muslim who was violently attacked by a gang of white Finns in June in the Western Finnish town of Teuva? According to Fares Al-Obaidi, the police plan to conclude their investigations into the crime in early June.
What happened to Al-Obaidi last year changed his life. He moved away to Espoo to receive professional help to overcome the trauma of what happened. He takes anti-depressants.
“I was a victim of a [violent] crime and it seems that nobody is interested,” he said complaining about the length of the police investigation.
His ordeal began on a Saturday. Fares was first insulted by a group of residents from the town of Teuva and then chased by two cars on the road. Two other cars blocked the road ahead of him and had no choice but to drive the car into a ditch.
Fares tried to run away from his attackers, but it was to no avail. He was beaten so badly by them that he ended up being taken by an ambulance to a hospital in Seinäjoki.
Hate speech, hate crime, and racism appear to rank low on police’s priority list. Many people who have turned to the police to report such a crime are usually surprised by the following fact: slow responseand reaction; your case may never see the light of a day in court.
A shameful case is that of Fares Al-Obaidi, a young Muslim who was attacked in June by a group of enraged townspeople of Teuva, located in Western Finland.
Nine months have gone by that terrible incident that changed Al-Obaidi’s life, and no charges have been brought against anyone.
“What happened to me changed my life,” he said. “I have to take sleeping pills and for stress and depression.”
Al-Obaidi said in December: “The fact that I know nothing about my case [and the charges] gives me the impression that what happened to me isn’t important to the police. Those who attacked me are walking freely with no consequences.”
“Helsinki City Councilor Fatima Diarra states in one of the tweets below that whenever she is racially harassed, since 2007, she has always filed a complaint to the police since they go nowhere.
She continues in the second tweet: “I got information from the police last Friday that one of these cases will be dropped. With this type of [racist] harassment, [the perpetrators] try to scare you or silence brown and black people. But dear ones, we are not going anywhere. Finland is our home.”
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.”
The knife used to assault the asylum seeker in jämsänkoski.
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.
Remember Fares Al-Obaidi, 19, who was chased and violently attacked on Saturday, June 6, by a gang of angry residents of Teuva, a town in Western Finland?Six months have passed since that terrible incident, and no charges have been brought yet against the alleged attackers.
“The fact that I know nothing about my case [and the charges],” said Al-Obaidi, “gives me the impression that what happened to me isn’t important to the police. Those who attacked me are walking freely with no consequences.”
Fares admits that his life changed by the events of early June.
“I no longer feel safe when going outside,” he continued. “I moved to another city [to Espoo from Kristiinankaupunki]. I have to take sleeping pills because I suffer from sleep disorders and have a tough time concentrating at school.”
The terrible scene left after Fares Al-Obaidi was violently attacked in June by a group of townspeople of Teuva in western Finland. The police have not ruled out a hate crime. Source: Facebook
Fares came to Finland in 2015 like tens of thousands of others fleeing war. He speaks Finnish fluently and attends high school. Even if he left is home country, a former home that is at war with itself for a long time, he never thought he’d experience what he did in Finland.
His ordeal began on a Saturday. Fares was first insulted by a group of residents from the town of Teuva and then chased by two cars on the road. Two other cars blocked the road ahead of him and had no choice but to drive the car into a ditch.
Fares tried to run away from his attackers, but it was to no avail. He was beaten so badly by them that he ended up being taken by an ambulance to a hospital in Seinäjoki.
“I don’t know what will happen to me in the future, but I am waiting for justice,” he concluded.
Migrant Tales insight: This story was written by a member of the Somali community and edited by Migrant Tales the following week after a young Somali Finn was knifed and killed at the Helsinki Kannelmäki train station. The letter will be published as charges against the suspect will be apparently made public by the police this week,
Many questions abound.One of the most important is if the tragic death of the young man was a hate crime and if not, why? What were the bias motivators? Was it witness perception? Intense violence? Difference between the victim and the perpetrators’ ethnic background? Or was there no other obvious motive, which is also a bias indicator. Some in the Somali community believe what happened was motivated by ethnic background. It is an important question that needs answering.
I first heard of what happened at home celebrating and breaking my fast on Sunday [April 26, 2020] night during the holy month of Ramadan. My mother knows the victim’s parents and they are devastated. Shortly before the death, the mother of the young man suffered another death when her child was born without life.
The death made me first angry, but then I told myself that this was going to happen since I live in such a racist country.
The roots of this tragedy go back to when the mayor of Helsinki [Jan Vapaavuori] labeled the Somalis [on April 14] as those spreading coronavirus. What he did was label us as part of the coronavirus problem of Finland. Anybody could see what was going to happen next. People get scared, and the racists get more aggressive and start targeting you.
Since I was a child, I have experienced racism in Finland. In the early 1990s, I was scorned at because of my skin color, but now it is also because I am a Muslim. It’s a double whammy.
Living in a racist society is scary and especially for our elders who may not speak Finnish well enough to understand or talk back to people who harass them in public.
What happened [in Kannelmäki] reinforced what many of us Somalis feel in Finland. What happened on Sunday could happen to us. And it has, before.
I don’t trust the police that they will bring justice to what happened.
Are the police going to sweep the issue of racism under the rug? Are they going to conclude that the suspects had mental issues? Were under the influence of alcohol or drugs? Are hardened criminals? Or grew up in broken homes?
Everyone should ask themselves why these two men were carrying knives.
When I go out, I have a goal: I go to work, go to the market, or some other place. What purpose did these men have by carrying knives?
For me the answer is simple. To hurt, or in this case, to kill a Somali.
Migrant Tales asked in April after the tragic death of an eighteen-year-old Somali Finn in Helsinki on April 26 is treated by the police as a hate crime.
What is equally surprising is the total news blackout on social media by the police as if communities affected by what happened don’t have the right to express their mourning and outrage.
The young Somali who was stabbed and died in April was Keyse Abdifatah Macalesh.
Even if there is some indication that the motive of the fatal stabbing may have had a bias motivators like ethnicity, the Finnish media is more interested in reporting about the suspect’s criminal background instead of how ethnicity may have played a role.
One Somali Finn that I contacted after the fatal stabbing stated:
“The death first made me angry, but then I told myself that this was going to happen since I live in such a racist country.
The roots of this tragedy go back to when the mayor of Helsinki [Jan Vapaavuori] labeled the Somalis [on April 14] as those spreading coronavirus. What he did was label us as part of the coronavirus problem of Finland. Anybody could see what was going to happen next. People get scared, and the racists get more aggressive and start targeting you.”
A hate crime comprises of two factors: the crime + bias motivation. Thus a hate crime is determined by bias, which includes: victim perception, organized hate groups, crime pattern, intense violence and specific targetting, timing, the difference between the victim and perpetrator, and by no other obvious motive.
The latter category, no obvious motive, is also relevant because it suggests that the crime was motivated by bias.
Indeed, people who commit a hate crime will do their best to play down or claim amnesia when it comes to determining their bias motivation.
One of the most critical questions about the death of the young Keyse Abdifatah Macalesh is why the police service mustn’t play down or overlook hate crime.
One of the most obvious reasons is so that they will not encourage the spread of similar crimes from happening.
My question to the police: Are there any bias motivators taken into account in Macalesh’s case?
