Hopes wash up on Aegean coast as dead bodies

source: http://www.todayszaman.com

Hopes wash up on Aegean coast as dead bodies

by

RECEP KORKUT*

Nothing has changed in the Aegean Sea. The journey of hope(lessness) for those searching for a future at the brink of despair ends in sorrow.

The lifeless bodies of six Palestinian children aged between 2 and 12 wash up on the shore. Over a week ago 19 Palestinians, of which more than half were children, were crammed into a small boat in the town of Turgutreis in Bodrum to head to the Greek Island of Kos. They brought nothing along with them except their dreams. But death interfered in the hopes of six children after the boat overturned 500 meters from the coast. The tragedy was mentioned as a disaster that had occurred between the two Aegean coasts, while the deaths of immigrants, which has come to be perceived as commonplace, were simply just another number for statistics. The invisibility of those who escape the difficult conditions in their homeland with the hope of establishing a normal life, even when they die, leads to the question of whether contemporary human rights are applied to everyone.

Death bells tolling for immigrants in Aegean

The Aegean Sea is the first border between the conflict-prone destitute East and South and wealthy Europe. The two coastlines of the Aegean, which is the scene of frequent journey-to-hope disasters, resemble two completely different worlds. But more often than not dreams end up drowning in the dark Aegean waters before passengers are able to reach the other world. The biggest disaster in this sea was the accident that killed 70 people near Seferihisar on Dec. 10, 2007. The tragedy coincided with World Human Rights Day, and dozens of hopeful passengers were not able to see the sun on that day. Over the past decades, hundreds and thousands of immigrants have been killed in the Aegean, and more death bells will toll for immigrants in the future.

As a result of Greece’s inhuman practices and nationalist chauvinism, the problem stopped being a human rights problem and became seen as a massive influx of immigrants. Turkey’s indifferent attitude and tendency to blame others resulted in turning the incidents in the Aegean into a dirty epic war. The fact that the victims and the people being killed are humans is not even mentioned. As for civil society organizations, the tragedies in the Aegean are trapped in an absolute human rights reference frame. Turkey and Greece are not the only sides to this problem — it is a “mutual” issue that concerns the entire world.

Emigration is a human right

Immigrants comprise the largest groups of people in the world and more people are becoming immigrants. Emigration today is more an escape from conflict and wars than a search for a new life. But it’s worth mentioning that the cause of most wars today is poverty, which creates a ground for conflict and displacement, especially in places where there is a vast difference in standards of living.

Certainly there is no magic spell that can resolve this issue, but if half of the global alliance formed around the disapproval of emigration formed around other matters, this issue would not be such a thorny problem. The global disturbance with immigration propels more countries to come together and reach an agreement than any other issue. Precautionary measures based on global cooperation must be taken until the real factors that cause people to become emigrants and refugees are resolved. Instead of trying to prevent emigration and convincing immigrants to stay home, more investments need to be made in countries that cause emigration.

Lastly, it’s also important to point out that emigration is a very rational choice and a natural human right. It would be a grave injustice to deprive people of this right. In order for people who are forced to emigrate to continue their life in an honorable fashion, we must not withhold this right from them.

Let me conclude with a statement that suits Immanuel Kant’s description of hospitality: Just as emigration is a natural right of every citizen, this right must be respected and these people must be welcomed inside.

*Recep Korkut is a social worker with the Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (SGDD) and a journalist who has written articles about minorities, migration and refugees. recepk85@gmail.com

22.11.2009

Op-Ed

 

Both the Pagani 17-year-old refugee abuse case AND Mohammad Kamran’s death case considered “cold cases”.

This a translation of this Nov 11, Avgi article, about this recent case of immigrant abuse in Pagani and the legal developments on Kamran Atif’s death .  Thanks to Efi for her work.

stapsa for clandestinenglish

The assault on the 17-year- old refugee is a “cold case”.

The assault on the 17-year-old refugee Mr. Mohamed Hussein Khantar by police guards in the Pagani refugee camp last October is considered a “cold case”. The same applies for the case of the death of the Pakistani immigrant Mohamed Kamran- who had been allegedly tortured in the police department of Nikea in Athens

According to newspaper Avgi’s sources, during the preliminary investigations conducted with regards to the assault case, Mytilene’s state attorney could not find sufficient evidence leading to possible prosecutions of police guards in the Pagani refugee camp. Thus, the case is considered cold, and all preliminary investigations regarding police officials are going to be archived.

The manner in which the case is concluded, confirms the fears of various bodies and organizations that an abuse case would be covered- up by the police forces. It is claimed that witnesses in the Pagani camp were offered “pink cards” in return for their silence, and were sent to Athens, where it is impossible to be traced.

Moreover, questions arise with regards to the contradictory conclusions after Mr. Khantar’s examination. According to his attending physician’s statement, injuries and traumatic lesions were found on his head, back area and hands; however, the medical examiner concluded that his injuries were older than the day of the alleged police assault.

The police assault has allegedly taken place in the afternoon of October 22nd, in the Pagani refugee camp, just a few hours after Mr. Spyros Vougias, who is the undersecretary of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, visited the camp. After the event was made public, the Ministry of Citizen Protection ordered a preliminary investigation of the case, which was conducted by Mytilene’s state attorney.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has made an announcement, pleading for an in-depth investigation of the case and a subsequent prosecution of the people involved. The Greek political party SYRIZA is planning to bring the topic in parliamentary discussion.

Kamran’s case

With regards to Mohamed Kamran’s case, leaked information from the Ministry of Citizen Protection reveal that toxicology tests show Kamran intoxicated; according to the same leak, the post mortem toxicology investigation found Kamran using alcohol and other substances before his death.

However, Mr. Fragiskos Ragoussis, Kamran family’s attorney stated that there are no official toxicology test results yet, and that in any case his clients are going to ask for a test re-run, since according to the Greek law the family has the right to appoint an external medical examiner during the autopsy.

At least eight refugees drown in the Aegean – one more unspeakable tragedy

source: associated press

8 Afghan immigrants drown as boat sinks in Greece

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A small boat loaded with Afghan families smashed onto the rocks and sank off an island in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday, causing three immigrant women and five children to drown.

The deadly accident highlighted the plight of thousands of migrants who risk their lives every year to reach the European Union.

Athens accused neighboring Turkey, from where the vessel set off, of doing little to stop thousands of illegal immigrants from arriving in Greece. Human rights groups, however, urged Greece to improve its treatment of migrants and its handling of asylum applications.

The coast guard said high waves swept the flimsy boat with 18 on board onto a rocky shore on Lesvos. Seven men, a woman and a child – all Afghans – swam ashore and were hospitalized for observation.

One of the 10 survivors, only identified as a Turkish man, was arrested on smuggling charges.

Under Greece’s tough immigration laws, traffickers involved in fatal accidents face life terms and a minimum euro500,000 ($750,000) fine.

Later Tuesday, the coast guard rescued another 45 illegal immigrants found abandoned on an uninhabited islet off the island of Anafi in the southeastern Aegean.

Lying only five miles (eight kilometers) from Turkey’s western shore, Lesvos is one of the main points of arrival for illegal immigrants, who use rickety boats to slip through a porous sea border dotted with hundreds of islands.

Deputy Citizen’s Protection Minister Spyros Vougias said the incident merited an official complaint to Turkey.

“We need a solution to the problems Turkey causes by tolerating the actions of human traffickers,” he said. “There must be an end to this slave trade.”

Greece also wants more support from other EU members and has begun receiving assistance from the bloc’s new border protection agency, Frontex.

“Every day, Greek authorities have to handle the security of 300-400 people seeking a safe destination in Greece,” Citizen’s Protection Minister Michalis Chryssochoides said. “We lack sufficient infrastructure, funds and cross-border cooperation.”

Some 5,500 people were detained on Lesvos in the first eight months of this year, compared to more than 13,000 in 2008.

Often fleeing war zones in Asia and Africa, the migrants pay thousands of dollars to smuggling gangs for a long and perilous journey to the west. Accidents at sea are frequent, while migrants trying to enter by land from Turkey face border minefields that have claimed at least 82 lives since 1994.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday’s drownings showed that migrants from war-torn countries are not deterred by strict anti-migration policies.

“As long as there are wars and violations of human rights, people will continue to be desperate and risk their lives,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Ketty Kehagioglou said.

Kehagioglou urged the government to improve the screening process for asylum seekers and create better migrant holding facilities.

She said UNCHR officials who visited the Pagani center on Lesvos last weekend saw some 700 people held in “appalling, outrageous” conditions.

“In one ward, there were more than 200 women and children with only 2 toilets,” Kehagioglou said. “Their mattresses were soiled with water from the toilets and the smell was unbearable.”

The Socialist government, elected three weeks ago, has pledged to improve migrants’ rights.

—

Associated Press Writer Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki contributed to this report.

Tied and beaten: “humanitarian treatment” of refugees by police in Pharmakonisi

Photos taken this summer at Pharmakonisi, Aegean, published at Athens Indymedia by Syspeirosi Anarchikon.

Human Rights Watch on Greece: Unsafe and Unwelcoming Shores

http://www.hrw.org,

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/09/greece-unsafe-and-unwelcoming-shores,

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Greece: Unsafe and Unwelcoming Shores

October 12, 2009

Between August and September 2009, Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 migrants who had been arrested on Samos, Symi, and Chios Islands, and the port towns of Patras and Igoumenitsa. The Greek authorities transferred them to detention centers close to the land border with Turkey and held them in the border police stations of Soufli, Tichero, and Feres, as well as in the Venna and Fylakio-Kyprinou (Fylakio) detention facilities. Two detained migrants described to us how Greek police forcibly pushed them across the river into Turkey from where Turkish authorities sent them back to Afghanistan.

One of them is a 17-year-old unaccompanied Afghan boy who told us over the phone that he was arrested on Symi Island, transferred to Fylakio detention center, and expelled with 11 other persons to Turkey:

We were one group of 12 persons they took out [from the detention center]. They drove us in a car…. for maybe one and a half hours. We arrived in the forest around 9 p.m.; they kept us there until midnight…. They told us not to move, otherwise the Turkish police would find us. It was [next to] a small river…. This side was Greece, the other side was Turkey.

The boat was a metal boat, a long metal boat. Inside the boat there was one policeman; he started the engine and after we arrived to the other side he told us to get out quickly and the boat went straight back. When the [Turkish] police arrived two of us explained what happened. The Turkish police came back to that place with us and said we should sit and that more persons might be coming. But the Greek police didn’t send more people.

We were for 12 days in [Turkish] detention. They beat me too much….  When the Turkish police beat me they said I should call my family to send me money to return to Afghanistan. I asked them not to send me back to Afghanistan, because I had problems. I asked them to keep me. But they didn’t care.

Near our house are Taliban; they are close…. I’m scared all the time. I’m a tenth grade student but I can’t go to school.[1]

The other person pushed back told us he was arrested on Samos Island, transferred to Fylakio detention center, expelled in a group of 45 or 50 persons, arrested by Turkish police, and taken to a detention center in Edirne: “I stayed for one week in Edirne. There were a lot of persons who had been deported from Greece. There were Afghans, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans.”[2] Human Rights Watch visited that detention center in 2008 and found conditions there to be inhuman and degrading.[3]

Another eight people said they witnessed Greek police taking migrants out of detention centers at nightfall in trucks or vans. Four of them told us that those taken from the detention centers later got in touch with detainees who stayed behind and told them that the Greek police had expelled them. One Afghan boy who was arrested on Symi Island described the scene he witnessed from his cell at Fylakio detention center:

Forty three persons were taken away from my group [of 91 persons]. One Iraqi had a friend among those [taken away]. He called Iraq from the detention center, and that friend said he had been deported. That Iraqi was part of our group. We were all in the same cell.

First [Greek police] asked them to sign something. … it was around the evening time, around 6 p.m. maybe. Then they searched them… the police took away everything they had: toothpaste, papers written in Greek, they took it from their pockets… After that they were taken into a truck without windows. It was completely closed, an army-colored truck. People entered from the back. I saw the truck with my own eyes and I saw how people entered.

Each time a new group [of detainees] arrived the truck came…. 67 persons arrived in one group and they took away 57 persons from that group….  Six or seven times new groups arrived…. For a small group the white van came, for a big group the truck came.[4]

Another person told us he had been arrested in Patras ahead of the authorities’ destruction of a large makeshift camp and then transferred with a group of 120 persons to Fylakio detention center. He told us that four of his friends had been deported from there: “They asked us, ‘Do you have relatives or friends?’ I said I had an uncle. Four friends of mine said they didn’t have family and they were deported. One of them called my friend and told him he was in Afghanistan…. They deported them after about two weeks. They were taken away in a small white car.”[5]

Greece’s Dysfunctional Asylum System

Greece effectively has no asylum system. It recognizes as few as 0.05 percent of asylum seekers as refugees at their first interview. A law adopted in July abolished ameaningful appeals procedure. The effect of the new law is that a person who is in need of international protection as a refugee in Greece is almost certain to be refused asylum at the first instance, and having been refused has little chance of obtaining it on appeal. The new law leaves asylum seekers with no remedy against risk of removal to inhuman or degrading treatment, as required by article 39 of the EU’s procedures directive and articles 13 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As a result of this legislative change, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) withdrew from any formal role in Greece’s asylum procedure.

Many of those we interviewed said they did not want to apply for asylum in Greece because they had heard that Greece rejects everyone. Some believed mistakenly that they could apply for asylum in other European countries. Access to legal counsel or interpreters is virtually impossible in detention centers in the north and those in need of protection may be unable to access asylum procedures. An Afghan detainee held in Soufli border police station, for example, was informed about her rights in English, a language she does not understand.

Apart from sporadic visits by a lawyer from the Greek Council for Refugees operating under a government agreement, no lawyers or organizations offer pro-bono legal aid in Greece’s northern region. Athens-based lawyers who offer pro-bono legal aid told us they are not able to access and speak to detainees in the north unless they present to authorities the names of persons detained. Even when they have the names of detainees, police in the Evros border region might ask them to obtain an additional permit from central police authorities to see persons detained; or police may not respond to their query whether a certain detainee is still held there. Conversations between lawyers and detainees furthermore are rarely confidential and lawyers said that police interrupted their talks and asked them to finish their conversations with detainees.[6]

Even those with access to legal aid and wanting to apply for asylum are not necessarily able to access the minimal procedures that do exist. According to the Greek Council for Refugees, on July 30, Greek police handed over 40 Turkish citizens, among them 18 asylum seekers, including four unaccompanied children, to their Turkish counterparts under a bilateral readmission agreement. Police on Crete, where the group initially arrived, refused to receive their asylum applications despite interventions by local lawyers. The asylum seekers were deported even though the Greek Council for Refugees intervened with the responsible Ministry.[7] In addition, on July 17, Human Rights Watch saw more than 1,000 asylum seekers lined up all night at Athens’ main police station trying to file asylum claims, largely in vain.

Greece is bound by the international legal principle of non-refoulement not to expel or return a person to a place where he or she would face persecution, torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment. This obligation applies not only to direct returns into the hands of persecutors or torturers, but also to indirect returns to countries from which persons are subsequently sent to a state where they face such threats. The circumstances of what constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment for an unaccompanied child may differ significantly from that of adults and Greece is obliged to take “measures and precautions” against such treatment when returning a child.[8]

Inhuman and Degrading Detention Conditions

Greece is also bound under European and international law to protect migrants from inhuman and degrading treatment while in Greece.  Persons held in detention centers in the north described to us conditions that would violate these obligations. Furthermore, unaccompanied children were detained jointly with adults across detention centers in the north, itself a violation of binding international standards.

People detained at the Soufli border police station, for example, told us that two detainees have to share one dirty mattress and that they are never allowed to go outside. One detainee, a 16-year-old girl in the company of her husband, told us that she felt constantly intimidated in a cell with more than 20 adult men.[9] People detained at Tichero border police station told us they slept on dirty mattresses or on the floor without blankets, and that the bathroom was filthy, with an unbearable smell.[10] Those held in the Venna detention facility said the place was infested with cockroaches and mice, and they complained about a lack of enough warm clothing. Those detained included a disabled man who had lost one arm and could not fully use his other arm but was subjected to the same regime. With the exception of Fylakio detention center, the conditions were compounded by a lack of access to medical care. Except for those held at Venna, those interviewed said they received only two meals per day, which they said was insufficient.

Detainees held at Fylakio detention facility spoke of comparatively better, albeit overcrowded, detention conditions. All persons who had been held there, however, said they experienced or witnessed violence and ill-treatment by guards. Two described an incident in which guards allegedly beat up an Arabic-speaking detainee after he tried to escape.

I saw an Arab who tried to escape. Police caught him and beat him up badly. They took him to the telephone room and covered the window with black plastic. Afterward I went to make a phone call and saw that guy with blood on his head and in handcuffs.[11]

Police also allegedly used violence when intervening in fights among detainees or to punish those who did not stay quiet at night:

I saw once with my own eyes that three policemen beat one person. They beat him in the corridor because he quarreled [with others]. They beat him for a short time with batons, with their hands, and they also kicked him.[12]

We received additional allegations of police violence from persons detained at Tichero and Feres border police stations, and from a person held at an unknown location near Komotini.[13]

Several persons interviewed said it was forbidden to make phone calls from Soufli and Tichero border police stations. One detainee at Soufli told us: “One detainee said if you have a lawyer you might get released but we don’t have a telephone so how can we contact our family to get us a lawyer?”[14] Another person said that although detainees held at Fylakio detention centers were permitted to make phone calls on Mondays and Thursdays, no calls were allowed during the first ten days.[15]

Asked whether they tried to file a complaint, one detainee told us: “I never complained to anybody. We didn’t complain. It wouldn’t have helped if we’d said anything. The captain would have told us to stay quiet.”[16] Although the police chief in charge of the Fylakio detention facility assured us he would investigate any allegation of ill-treatment brought forward by detainees, he added that he has never received any complaints.[17]

The EU’s Failure to Hold Greece Accountable

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on the European Union to hold Greece accountable for its violation of European asylum standards, including while recent arrests and transfers were still ongoing. Yet, despite having a mandate and a duty to enforce member states’ implementation of EU legislation, the European Commission  has not spoken out against Greece’s effective abolition of the right to seek asylum or to appeal rejected asylum claims, or its abusive detention and expulsions of migrants, including children. In fact, Jacques Barrot, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for justice, freedom, and security, was on an official visit to Greece when the new presidential decree was published that effectively eliminated the appeals procedure in violation of binding EU standards.

The European Commission’s failure to call publicly for Greece to remedy these serious violations of EU standards and European and international human rights and refugee law sends a worrying signal that abuses may go unchecked. It is vitally important for the Commission to take the opportunity of a new administration in Athens to press in the strongest terms for immediate and fundamental reform of Greece’s asylum system, meaningful access to protection, and an end to abuse.

The Commission should without delay issue a reasoned opinion on Greece’s current breaches of EU standards on asylum and migration, identifying the steps needed to bring Greece back into conformity with EU and human rights law. It should also make clear to Athens that unless the new government takes those steps, the Commission will refer its failure to uphold EU standards to the European Court of Justice.

In two reports published in 2008, Human Rights Watch further called on European governments to stop sending migrants and asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, back to Greece under the Dublin II regulations. We concluded that Greece violated both EU standards and international human rights law by holding migrants in unacceptable detention conditions, by preventing persons in need of protection from seeking asylum, and by failing to protect unaccompanied migrant children.

Under the European Union’s Dublin II regulations, the country where a person first entered the EU is generally held responsible for examining that person’s asylum claim, whether or not the person applied there. While the Dublin II regulations are premised on the notion that all EU member states have comparable asylum and migration practices, there are wide disparities, with some countries like Greece effectively offering no protection at all. This disparity underscores the importance of reforming the Dublin system while at the same time ensuring that EU member states are held to account for their failure to respect their obligations under EU law.  Only then can the EU take meaningful steps toward creating a common European asylum system.

New Greek Government Should Take Urgent Action to Stop Abuses

Human Rights Watch calls on the new government in Greece to take urgent steps to end abuses against refugees and migrants, including children. We reiterate the recommendations we made to the-then Minister of Interior in August:

Issue a public statement committing the government to treating migrants apprehended in Greek territory in a humane and dignified manner. Guarantee all migrants unhindered access to the asylum procedure and protection from refoulement.

Immediately ensure that the practice of illegal expulsion across the Evros River be stopped; carry out an investigation leading to identification and levying of appropriate sanctions of officials involved in such illegal acts.

Rescind Presidential Decree 81/2009, create a functioning asylum system in which trained staff assess asylum claims on the basis of confidential and private interviews, and allow for a fair and independent review of appeals.

Refrain from detaining unaccompanied migrant children and from summarily deporting them without prior assessment of the risks they face upon return. Create sufficient number of care places for all unaccompanied migrant children in Greece. Consider the granting of temporary residence for unaccompanied children on humanitarian grounds, as provided for in article 44(c) of Law 3386/2005, to protect them from repeated arrest and detention until a durable solution in their best interests is found.

Close substandard detention centers and open new facilities ensuring adequate space, cleanliness, recreation, access to health care, and legal and family visitation necessary for humane conditions of detention. Migrants should only be detained as a last resort, when actual proceedings for their deportation are ongoing, and when it is the only method necessary to secure persons’ lawful deportation, and when the necessity of detaining them is subject to regular review, including by the judiciary. Asylum seekers should not be detained.

Ensure full access for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Human Rights Watch, and other reputable organizations to all migration detention facilities, Coast Guard vessels and facilities, and to entry and border points and the border region.

[1] Human Rights Watch telephone interview (S-15-09), September 28, 2009. (name withheld)

[2] Human Rights Watch telephone interview (S-16-09), September 29, 2009. (name withheld)

[3] Human Rights Watch, Greece/Turkey: Stuck in a Revolving Door: Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union, November 2008, ISBN 1-56432-411-7, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/11/26/stuck-revolving-door-0, p.6.

[4] Human Rights Watch interview (S-3-09), September 8, 2009. (name and place withheld)

[5] Human Rights Watch interview (S-5-09), September 8, 2009. (name and place withheld)

[6] Human Rights Watch interview with Marianna Tzeferakou and Danai Angeli, Athens, September 6, 2009.

[7] Email correspondence from Greek Council of Refugees to Human Rights Watch, August 21, 2008.

[8] Mubilanzila Mayeka and Kaniki Mitunga v. Belgium, (Application no. 13178/03), October 12, 2006, available at http://www.echr.coe.int/, para. 69.

[9] Human Rights Watch interview (S-11-09 and S-12-09), September 10, 2009 (names and place withheld). Human Rights Watch interview with (S-13-09), September 11, 2009 (name and place withheld). The European Court of Human Rights held in a recent judgment that detention conditions at Soufli border police station amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. S.D. v. Greece, (Application no. 53541/07), June 11, 2009, available at http://www.echr.coe.int/, paras. 53-54.

[10] Human Rights Watch interview (S-2-09), September 7, 2009 (name and place withheld). Human Rights Watch interview (S-6-09), September 9, 2009. Human Rights Watch telephone interview (S-14-09), September 28, 2009 (name and place withheld).

[11] Human Rights Watch telephone interview (S-1-2009), August 20, 2009. Another detainee referred to the same incident (S-4-09).

[12] Human Rights Watch interview (S-3-09), September 8, 2009 (name and place withheld).

[13] Human Rights Watch interviews (S-2-09) September 7, 2009 (name and place withheld). Human Rights Watch interviews (S-6-09, S-7-09, S-8-09), September 9, 2009 (names and place withheld). Human Rights Watch interviews (S-11-09, S-12-09), September 10, 2009 (names and place withheld).

[14] Human Rights Watch interview (S-13-09), September 11, 2009 (name and place withheld).

[15] Human Rights Watch interview (S-3-09), September 8, 2009 (name and place withheld).

[16] Human Rights Watch interview (S-5-09), September 8, 2009 (name and place withheld).

[17] Human Rights Watch interview with Giorgos Salamagas, chief of police Orestiada, Fylakio detention center, September 10, 2009.

© Copyright 2008, Human Rights Watch

Greece: 5 immigrants murdered in one year, 50 in the last decade

• source: clandestina article at athens indymedia
• translated by mich at de.indymedia.org

Five immigrants were killed by cops and coast guards during last year in Greece. More than fifty humans have been killed the last ten years because of “luckily gun-fires”, “unclear situations”, “health problems”, “unreasonable self-suicides”, the “reasonable rage of citizens”. In this list there are no cases of deaths that were caused because of inexistent safety measures in workplaces (13 dead immigrants ONLY during the olympic games’ constructions. On this list the deaths because of land-mines at Evros river, or shipwrecks in the Aegean sea are not included, as well as the cases of  gun-fire exchange, which were filed as’ “legal self-defense” cases although its certain they were plain murders.  In this list there are only cases of straight murders.

The blood list:
9/10/2009:Death of Mohamed Kamran Atif, who was beated up after 15 cops entered a pakistan workers’ poor house on 26th of September at Nikaia district in Athens.

27/7/2009: Death of Kurd immigrant Arivan Osman Abdulah, who was hospitalized in comma, after being beated up by coast guards at Igoumenitsa’s harbour on 3rd April 2009.

23/3/2009: Death of 24 year old Mazir, who was found in comma, on 6th December, in the stream of Votanikos, 600 meters away from the cops’ Immigrants’ Authority Offices at Petrou Ralli St. and was hospitalized in comma.

3/1/2009: Husein Zahidul, immigrand from Bagladesh loses his life in the same stream of Petrou Ralli St.

24/10/2008: In Petrou Ralli stream was found dead Mohamed Ashraf from Pakistan, after a barbarian cop chase close to Immigrants’ Authority Offices

22/2/2008: Abdukarim Yahya Idris from Sudan gets beated up and murdered by three cops.

8/11/2007: Ilmi Lates, 45 years old and father of five children, was found by border guards close to Levaia village, the guards fire on his back from close distance and falls dead on the ground.

8/11/2007: Imprissoned Pakistan in farm jail of Kassandra was found hung in his cell. The courts have decided to send him back to his country.

11/10/2007: Afgan prisoner, 27 years old, was found hunged in his cell in Korydallos jailhouse.

18/8/2007: Tony Onuoha, 25 years old from Nigeria gets killed in Kalamaria district, Thessaloniki.

15/4/2007: Leonidas Kaltsas, 20 years old from Albania, hunged in cells of Youngsters Authority in Liosia district.

28/3/2007: Mathiea Domin, 16 years old from Poland, prejailed in Avlona, commits suicide in Korydallos’ psychological hospital.

21/11/2006: A dead immigrand from Makreb in the Omonoia cop office.

October 2006: Greek Authorities are blamed for throwing in the sea almost 40 immigrants without papers. Turkish coast guards in Karaburun openseas close to Smyrnee collected 6 corpses and 31 alive of them.

13/2/2006: Patras. A 15 year old Afgan immigrant heavily injured by coast guards and a 29 year old who also presented at the event, fall dead under unclear circumstances.

5/2/2006: Dead, under unclear circumstances, immigrant from Iran at Omonoia cop station.

1/1/2006: Rethymno, Crete. Edisson Yahai killed, 18 years old, killed in his home by a team of greek youngsters (they have earlier a conflict with a group of alban youngsters), with 17 stabs by knife on his head, cheast, back, arms and legs. The victim has not participated in the conflict.

11/4/2005: Lamia city. Dead immigrant from Nigeria in the city’s cop station. The murdered immigrant was buried without a doctor to check the corpe to investigate the reason of death.

4/9/2004: After the match of national teams of Greece and Albania starts a pogrom against the alban immigrants in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larisa, Kilkis, Ileia, Kavala, Zante, Ioannina, Patra, Corfu, Paros, Rethymno, Kalamata, Volos, Rodos… almost all around the greek areas that alban immigrants live there. On Zante island, Gramos Palushi, a 20 years old immigrant, fell dead because of the knife of Panagiotis Kladis. Also two more immigrants in the hospital because of this killer.

11/8/2004: Luan Berdelima, 36 years old, economical immigrand from Albania lost his life because he was unluck to face some macho locals

13/3/2004: Jandeus Kocheva, 36 years old, dead in the cop station of Vyronas district in Athens.

13/1/2004: Mohamed Hamut, 42 years old from Syria, dead because of “health problems” in cops station of Rethymno, Crete. The doctor who checked the corpe stated that he was beated up all around his body.

23/9/2003: Vulnet Bititsi, 18 years old from Albania shoted and killed by border guards at Krystalopigi.

2/11/2002: Alban immigrant, 32 years old, shoted and killed by border guards at Kastoria.

1/12/2001: Border guards shot against two young albans in a village close to the borders at Thesproteia area, one falls dead.

21/11/2001: Cop Giannis Rizopoulos murders at America Square, Athens an immigrant from Albania, Gentjan Celniku 20 years old.

29/4/2001: Burdaki Taveus, 38 years old from Poland, commited suicide in the cop station of Kos island. He was found hung in his cell, after he was arrested and waiting for months to be sent back to Poland.

1/8/2001: O. Pazil from Turkey gets killed by coast guards around the sea space of Kos island.

4/6/2001: Afrim Salla, 15 years old from Albania, gets shot and loses the ability to move his legs, after -as Greek Police stated- the gun of the border guard fired by luck.

13/2/2001: Konstantin Katur, 47 years old from Romania, dies in a cop station. Despite his heavy injure no cop took him to a hospital.

23/11/2000: Chavahir Katsani, 22 years old from Albania and Ryon, 15 years old from Albania are shoted and killed by a greek at Galatista village at Halkidiki.

1/11/2000: Bledar Qoshku, 20 years old from Albania, was killed -as Greek Police stated- after he and a cop started shoting against each other. The gun that Bledar Qoshku should carry was never found.

10/8/2000: A 20 years old immigrand from Albania gets killed by border guards at Ieropigi, Kastoria.

14/6/2000: Border guards shoot and kill an immigrand at Evros river.

25/7/2000: A 22 years old immigrand gets shot and killed by greek army general at the greek-bulgarian borders.

15/6/2000: Yoval Badjar, 25 years old gets killed by G. Pistolas, a border guard, at Megalo Dereio village at Evros river.

27/4/2000: An under-18 immigrant from Albania gets murdered by cop, with a bullet on his neck, during a revolt at Avlona jailhouse.

25/3/2000: Nikos Leonidis, 17 years old from Georgeen, gets killed by mr. Atmatzidis, an undercover cop, in Thessaliniki.

21 & 23 of October, 1999: P.Kazakos, 23 years old, guard at ERT (governmental TV-channel) starts shooting generaly against immigrants. Victims of him: Kofi Tony from Ghana dead. Saad Abdelhadi, 30 years old from Egypt has serious moving problems. Hindir Serif, a 25 years old kurd, loses the ability to move his legs. Kurd Rasul Posef, Ahmed Nasar from Pakistan, Timoty Abdul from Nigeria and Mohamed Datnon from Bagladesh were not so heavily injured.

7/4/1999: An alban woman gets killed by Greek Police at the greek-macedonian borders.

18/3/1999: Lanti Peppa, 20 years old from Albania gets killed in Kastoria by Greek Police.

13/3/1999: Arben Vezi from Albania gets killed at Kozani by cop named Athanasios Kanavas.

November 1998: A. Hoxoli, 20 years old from Albania gets killed by A. Gougousis, because the victim tried to steal his horse. After this, the killer tried with some relevants of him to hide the dead body.

23/10/1998: Marco Boulatovic, a 17 year old student gets shoted at his heart in Thessaloniki by cop named Vantoulis because he was a “suspect for stealing”.

October 1998: Shbobek Miesic, from Poland, dies in the cop station of Meligalas because cops refused to transfer him to a hospital despite the doctor’s orders.

15/6/1998: At Megara city gets killed a youngster from Albania.

5/6/1998: Bokari Baho, 28 years old, falls dead because of “fear shots” of a border team.

April 1998: Ose Ogbuefi, from Nigeria gets murdered “for cheap reason”. The killer E.Kyriakopoulos and his friends refuse to state that felt sorry for the assasination.

Also:
4/8/2009: A 29 years old woman from Albania comited suicide at the cop station of Hersonisos, Crete because she did not want to be sent back to Albania.

12/7/2008: A 48 year old man from Gorgeen commited suicide in his cell in Kassandreia jailhouse, Thessaloniki because he didn’t want to be sent back to his country.

9/10/2009:Death of Mohamed Kamran Atif, who was beated up after 15 cops entered a pakistan workers’ poor house on 26th of September at Nikaia district in Athens.

27/7/2009: Death of Kurd immigrant Arivan Osman Abdulah, who was hospitalized in comma, after being beated up by coast guards at Igoumenitsa’s harbour on 3rd April 2009.

23/3/2009: Death of 24 year old Mazir, who was found in comma, on 6th December, in the stream of Votanikos, 600 meters away from the cops’ Immigrants’ Authority Offices at Petrou Ralli St. and was hospitalized in comma.

3/1/2009: Husein Zahidul, immigrand from Bagladesh loses his life in the same stream of Petrou Ralli St.

24/10/2008: In Petrou Ralli stream was found dead Mohamed Ashraf from Pakistan, after a barbarian cop chase close to Immigrants’ Authority Offices

22/2/2008: Abdukarim Yahya Idris from Sudan gets beated up and murdered by three cops.

8/11/2007: Ilmi Lates, 45 years old and father of five children, was found by border guards close to Levaia village, the guards fire on his back from close distance and falls dead on the ground.

8/11/2007: Imprissoned Pakistan in farm jail of Kassandra was found hung in his cell. The courts have decided to send him back to his country.

11/10/2007: Afgan prisoner, 27 years old, was found hunged in his cell in Korydallos jailhouse.

18/8/2007: Tony Onuoha, 25 years old from Nigeria gets killed in Kalamaria district, Thessaloniki.

15/4/2007: Leonidas Kaltsas, 20 years old from Albania, hunged in cells of Youngsters Authority in Liosia district.

28/3/2007: Mathiea Domin, 16 years old from Poland, prejailed in Avlona, commits suicide in Korydallos’ psychological hospital.

21/11/2006: A dead immigrand from Makreb in the Omonoia cop office.

October 2006: Greek Authorities are blamed for throwing in the sea almost 40 immigrants without papers. Turkish coast guards in Karaburun openseas close to Smyrnee collected 6 corpses and 31 alive of them.

13/2/2006: Patras. A 15 year old Afgan immigrant heavily injured by coast guards and a 29 year old who also presented at the event, fall dead under unclear circumstances.

5/2/2006: Dead, under unclear circumstances, immigrant from Iran at Omonoia cop station.

1/1/2006: Rethymno, Crete. Edisson Yahai killed, 18 years old, killed in his home by a team of greek youngsters (they have earlier a conflict with a group of alban youngsters), with 17 stabs by knife on his head, cheast, back, arms and legs. The victim has not participated in the conflict.

11/4/2005: Lamia city. Dead immigrant from Nigeria in the city’s cop station. The murdered immigrant was buried without a doctor to check the corpe to investigate the reason of death.

4/9/2004: After the match of national teams of Greece and Albania starts a pogrom against the alban immigrants in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larisa, Kilkis, Ileia, Kavala, Zante, Ioannina, Patra, Corfu, Paros, Rethymno, Kalamata, Volos, Rodos… almost all around the greek areas that alban immigrants live there. On Zante island, Gramos Palushi, a 20 years old immigrant, fell dead because of the knife of Panagiotis Kladis. Also two more immigrants in the hospital because of this killer.

11/8/2004: Luan Berdelima, 36 years old, economical immigrand from Albania lost his life because he was unluck to face some macho locals

13/3/2004: Jandeus Kocheva, 36 years old, dead in the cop station of Vyronas district in Athens.

13/1/2004: Mohamed Hamut, 42 years old from Syria, dead because of “health problems” in cops station of Rethymno, Crete. The doctor who checked the corpe stated that he was beated up all around his body.

23/9/2003: Vulnet Bititsi, 18 years old from Albania shoted and killed by border guards at Krystalopigi.

2/11/2002: Alban immigrant, 32 years old, shoted and killed by border guards at Kastoria.

1/12/2001: Border guards shot against two young albans in a village close to the borders at Thesproteia area, one falls dead.

21/11/2001: Cop Giannis Rizopoulos murders at America Square, Athens an immigrant from Albania, Gentjan Celniku 20 years old.

29/4/2001: Burdaki Taveus, 38 years old from Poland, commited suicide in the cop station of Kos island. He was found hung in his cell, after he was arrested and waiting for months to be sent back to Poland.

1/8/2001: O. Pazil from Turkey gets killed by coast guards around the sea space of Kos island.

4/6/2001: Afrim Salla, 15 years old from Albania, gets shot and loses the ability to move his legs, after -as Greek Police stated- the gun of the border guard fired by luck.

13/2/2001: Konstantin Katur, 47 years old from Romania, dies in a cop station. Despite his heavy injure no cop took him to a hospital.

23/11/2000: Chavahir Katsani, 22 years old from Albania and Ryon, 15 years old from Albania are shoted and killed by a greek at Galatista village at Halkidiki.

1/11/2000: Bledar Qoshku, 20 years old from Albania, was killed -as Greek Police stated- after he and a cop started shoting against each other. The gun that Bledar Qoshku should carry was never found.

10/8/2000: A 20 years old immigrand from Albania gets killed by border guards at Ieropigi, Kastoria.

14/6/2000: Border guards shoot and kill an immigrand at Evros river.

25/7/2000: A 22 years old immigrand gets shot and killed by greek army general at the greek-bulgarian borders.

15/6/2000: Yoval Badjar, 25 years old gets killed by G. Pistolas, a border guard, at Megalo Dereio village at Evros river.

27/4/2000: An under-18 immigrant from Albania gets murdered by cop, with a bullet on his neck, during a revolt at Avlona jailhouse.

25/3/2000: Nikos Leonidis, 17 years old from Georgeen, gets killed by mr. Atmatzidis, an undercover cop, in Thessaliniki.

21 & 23 of October, 1999: P.Kazakos, 23 years old, guard at ERT (governmental TV-channel) starts shooting generaly against immigrants. Victims of him: Kofi Tony from Ghana dead. Saad Abdelhadi, 30 years old from Egypt has serious moving problems. Hindir Serif, a 25 years old kurd, loses the ability to move his legs. Kurd Rasul Posef, Ahmed Nasar from Pakistan, Timoty Abdul from Nigeria and Mohamed Datnon from Bagladesh were not so heavily injured.

7/4/1999: An alban woman gets killed by Greek Police at the greek-macedonian borders.

18/3/1999: Lanti Peppa, 20 years old from Albania gets killed in Kastoria by Greek Police.

13/3/1999: Arben Vezi from Albania gets killed at Kozani by cop named Athanasios Kanavas.

November 1998: A. Hoxoli, 20 years old from Albania gets killed by A. Gougousis, because the victim tried to steal his horse. After this, the killer tried with some relevants of him to hide the dead body.

23/10/1998: Marco Boulatovic, a 17 year old student gets shoted at his heart in Thessaloniki by cop named Vantoulis because he was a “suspect for stealing”.

October 1998: Shbobek Miesic, from Poland, dies in the cop station of Meligalas because cops refused to transfer him to a hospital despite the doctor’s orders.

15/6/1998: At Megara city gets killed a youngster from Albania.

5/6/1998: Bokari Baho, 28 years old, falls dead because of “fear shots” of a border team.

April 1998: Ose Ogbuefi, from Nigeria gets murdered “for cheap reason”. The killer E.Kyriakopoulos and his friends refuse to state that felt sorry for the assasination.

Also:
4/8/2009: A 29 years old woman from Albania comited suicide at the cop station of Hersonisos, Crete because she did not want to be sent back to Albania.

12/7/2008: A 48 year old man from Gorgeen commited suicide in his cell in Kassandreia jailhouse, Thessaloniki because he didn’t want to be sent back to his country.

Arrests of sans papiers in Ileia, Peloponnese and Ipeirus

41 undocumented immigrants from Iraq, Afganistan and Palestine were arrested the night before yesterday in Ileia, Peloponnese (the prefecture which lays  next to Patras’ prefecture in the south).  They had paid 1,000 – 1,5000 euros each to be transported by a little fish-ship to Brindesi, Italy.   After the ship-owners abandoned them at the shore at the Katakolon area, they tried to hide but were reported and arrested.

Some hours later, in the nearby area of Lehena, Ileia, Peloponnese, 21 refugees from Palestine were arrested.  http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.article&id=78517

In two days, 2 and 3 of  September, 137 immigrants were arrested in Ipeirus region, in northwestern Greece. source: http://epirusgate.blogspot.com/2009/09/137.html

A sum-up of August so far

THE SITUATION IN GENERAL

According to an “Eleftherotypia” newspaper article, 3.000 refugees are detained in police detentions spaces (in the prison cells of police departments) and 3.000 more in dtetention centers. The detention center conditions, which are even more unbearable due to seasonal heat, could only be described as hellish during August due to the the inhumane overcrowding, which is now the situation at Greece’s mainland detention spaces as well. This has been described as unprecedented, with the facilities with no exception now being 50% over their capacity. Detainees are constantly being transferred from one detention space to the next, but constant “sweep operations” have gradually filled all premises. According to leaks, there are also some “informal” detentions spaces running. The only strategy of the pertinent ministry of interior is actually summary expulsions of refugees to Turkey.

The minister and deputy minister of interior are said to be in political rivalry, and their urge to meet with the “message of the euroelections”, the cleansing of Athens and urban centers of immigrants, has clashed with coordination problems and the lack of any realistic plan for “reception centers”, at the expense of refugees’ treatment of course, as described above. The minister is said to follow a plan of constucting four camps until the end of the year, the deputy minister two camps as early as mid September.

The situation is believed to worsen by the end of August when the new law which denies refugees to lodge an appeal for rejected asylum applications will be put in effect, opening thus the way for the deportation thus thousands of refugees whose applications are now pending.

“Now you will die!”: Coast Guard attempt to drown asylum-seekers in Lesbos

Source: http://libcom.org/news/now-you-will-die-coast-guard-attempt-drown-asylum-seekers-lesbos-03082009

Coast guard of Lesbos tied 12 Somali immigrants in an inflatable boat and then pierced its sides with knives in order to drown the helpless asylum seekers who were saved by passing cruise boat

The Coast Guard of Lesbos Island has been accused of attempting to mass murder 12 Somali asylum seekers, amongst which one woman. According to the case, on the 5th of July an Austrian European border Frontex Helicopter spotted an inflatable boat containing the 12 immigrants off Korakas Cape in Lesbos.

Upon the arrival of the Greek Coast Guard, the helicopter left, leaving the Greek cops to arrest the 12. The Coast Guard took the 12 out of their boat, tied their hands to their necks, beat them, and put them back in the inflatable boat before piercing its sides with knives. Then they let the boat go to the open sea telling the asylum seekers in English: “Now you will die!”.

Immediately the boat started getting water in, and sinking. The asylum seekers were saved from certain drowning when a British cruise boat passed by, saw them and saved them. The asylum seekers were then taken to Pagani detention camp on Lesbos from where they contacted the UN through a sympathetic lawyer. The Coast Guard adding insult to harm has called the UN law suit against them an act of provocation.

4 Iraqis on hunger strike in Arta

source: http://www.ele.gr/(A(YogGIgNBygEkAAAAYjRjNWU1YTAtZWRmMC00ZTU5LWIzNDYtMDE0NWY4ZjU0NDZjN4pB9lQR8gfgptGCq2k4zvtIU-Q1))/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=1945

In Arta, a town in north-western Greece of 25.000, four Iraqis went on hunger strike on the 9th of July, while another four Albanians are expecting for their asylum requests to be examined. The immigrants are not being accused of any crime, yet they have been locked up in a dirty and crowded cell at the police station for over two weeks, depending only on the good will of the police officers to leave the cell. The Iraqis, considerably weakened by the hunger strike and the conditions of detention, have even abstained from requesting political asylum and are hoping their hunger strike will help accelerate the process leading to their release and administrative deportation.

THE IMMEDIATE LEGACY OF THE PATRAS EVICTION: 23 immigrants on hunger strike in Agrinion

source: athens indymedia

On the 11 July 2009, the Patras TV channel “superb” broadcasted a live interview of the president of the police officers’ Union of Agrinion, a town of 100.000 inhabitants in Western Greece. The officer stated that 23 of 26 immigrants who had been arrested after the complete demolition of the 15-year-old refugee settlement in Patras by the authorities, and had then been transferred to the police headquarters in Agrinion, have now started a hunger strike. (The remaining three immigrants had been released.)

All 23 of the detainees (Somalis and Afghanis) were reported to be suffering contageous diseases, (mainly tuberculosis and scabs) yet were still being kept in jail instead of being taken to a hospital for proper care. The guards refused to go near them for fear of becoming infected and had therefore arranged for the immigrants to have direct access to the toilets. The police officers’ union president added that the immigrants had been offered to be returned to their countries on the expense of the Greek State but they had all declined.

A month later, on the 12th of August, four of the immigrants were transferred to the hospital, where they joined another four immigrants-hunger strikers who had been transferred there the previous day. All eight of them are in a critical condition. The original 23 immigrants were still refusing food until the 20th of August, when six of them were transferred to an unknown destination. 17 immigrants are now being detained in Agrinio, accepting water and food and awaiting the State’s decision about their fate.

Hunger Strike in Pagani, Lesvos

source and much material and updates at http://lesvos09.antira.info/

Published on 20. August 2009,

On 18th of August 2009, 160 unaccompanied minors detained in Pagani detention centre went on hunger strike to demand their immediate freedom. All of them are detained in just one room, where they share one toilet, many need to sleep on the floor due to lack of beds. Some of the minors are only eight or nine years old. 50 of them have been detained for over 2 months, the others have been in Pagani for several weeks already. The detention of minors is illegal under greek law.

Today, 150 people from a local solidarity movement and antiracist groups here to prepare the noborder camp took to the detention centre to show solidarity and support for their demand for immediate freedom. On arrival, the detained persons started shouting “freedom, freedom”, which was answered by the demonstaration. Messages in English and Farsi were read out as the migrants inside passed letters with their demands and concerning their situation to the outside.

All participants of the demonstration were severly shocked in the light of the unbearable conditions in Pagani. We learnt of a 13-year-old boy inside Pagani who was extremely sick and in urgent need of medical attention for two days already. However, none of the authorities responsible acted. It was only when we called an ambulance it was possible to transport the sick boy to the hospital. We also learnt of a heavily pregnant woman in a very bad health state. She however refused to be brought to the hospital since she didn’t want to leave her other two little children alone in Pagani.

We left with the promise to come back soon and to spread the information about these obvious human rights abuses worldwide and went to the city to confront the attorney responsible with his neglect in taking care of the minors he is in charge of.

One letter we received reads:

We are having hardship times in this worst jail, more than three months in a bad situation, without any supporters except you. The police refuses or rejects to explain our bad situation in this bad jail. We are more than 1.000 prisoners, ladies, guys as well as lots of children. So as a conclusion, please do whatever you can. We are waiting a lot from you, we need our freedom as well as our rights.

Best regards, prisoners

Samos Hunger Strike: almost 600 Samos immigrants go on hunger strike over transfers, expulsions

source: http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100002_06/08/2009_109598

The recent government policy of moving illegal immigrants to reception centers in northern Greece before expelling them from the country ran into more trouble yesterday, as 580 migrants being held on Samos went on hunger strike to protest the measure.

The migrants’ complaints were prompted by an attempt by authorities to remove 26 illegal immigrants from the island on Tuesday so that they could be transferred to another center in northern Greece.

Authorities have recently attempted to crack down on illegal immigration by stepping up the number of expulsions, while also taking into custody migrants squatting or renting accommodation in run-down buildings in Athens.

The practice of transferring migrants to northern Greece has, in recent weeks, met with the opposition of human rights campaigners who have attempted to prevent the operations from taking place.

Yesterday’s protest came as sources revealed to Kathimerini that one in three applications made this year to remain here by the families of migrants living legally in Greece will be rejected.

Sources said that some 9,000 applications had been made but that in some 3,000 cases, the requests would be turned down because the migrant who is the main breadwinner in the family was not earning enough money.

According to Greek law, for a migrant’s family to be allowed to remain in Greece, the head of the family must declare an income that is 20 percent more than that of an unskilled laborer, which amounts to 10,200 euros per year before taxes.

Campaigners for migrants’ rights have expressed concern that since, given the current economic conditions, many immigrants’ incomes do not reach this level, their wives and children will be deemed to be living here illegally.

The Interior Ministry said that migrants can appeal any decision to deport their families and instead of a residence permit will be issued with a document confirming their legal status (“veveosi”) that will then be renewed every six months until their case is heard.

Deaths in Kos and Igoumenitsa

from fortresseurope.blogspot

07/08/09

Greece

Body found at Igoumenitsa port. He sneaked onto a truck believing it was about to board a ferry for Italy and he died after he jumped off when it appears that the truck was headed for mainland Greece

13/08/09

Greece

Two bodies were recovered from the sea off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Kos while another three people were reported to be missing

Children in prison in Thessaloniki

August 12, 2009

source: tvxs.gr

Two little girls from Afghanistan were among the immigrants detained in the Border Guard Station of Kordelio outside Thessaloniki. 8 year old Narges and 2 year old Farzona were arrested with their parents trying to board on forged documents on a plane to Stuttgart. Although the public prosecutor decided that the family should be trialed in October 2010, the police arrested them and detained the father and the rest of the family in different police prison spaces. In the mean time the police decision for their deportation was issued. Fortunately the next day a court decision ordered their release and their transfer to an NGO managed reception center.

One more police inflicted death: Igoumenitsa Port Police victim dies

info: tvxs article

see also: A Kurd refugee in coma after assault by port police in Igoumenitsa – another victim of the Police operations at the western ports of Greece

The Kurd refugee from Iraq Arivan Abdullah Osman who had been severly injured on the 3rd of April at Igoumenitsa port by Port police men died today.

The eyewitnesses had described “commandos in blue and military camouflage uniforms”who had arrested Arivan Abdullah Osman for remaining at the port area, and then banged his head on cement  and inflicted him an internal hemorrhage.

He was transferred to local medical centers, and finally at the Thessaloniki Papanikolaou Hospital, where he underwent a surgical operation at his head.

According to the doctors he had no chance to recover and would either die, or remain into vegetative state.

The perpetrators of the crime have not been charged with anything yet. No judiciary research on the case has been ordered. The local port police head officer has promised an “administrative inquiry” (which is what authorities in Greece do when they want in effect to drop a case)… We can certainly rely on that for truth , since the pertinent Ministry’s announcement reads that Abdullah suffered an epileptic seizure and injured himself…

“Excuse me, Mr. Minister – she said – what difference is there between dying at sea and dying in Libya?”

source: fortresseurope.blogspot

The massacre continues: 459 deaths in the first 6 months of 2009

ROME, 2 July 2009 – The number of deaths at the border fell for the first time over the last three years. In the first semester of 2009, the victims reported by the international press along the routes of emigration in the Mediterranean have been 434, to which the 25 people who disappeared along land borders must be added, including the three boys who ended up under lorries in the Italian Adriatic harbours. Last year, over the same period, there had been 985 documented deaths. The figures –based on news from the international press- were divulged by the Fortress Europe observatory. The main reason for the decrease in shipwrecks is the objective decrease in the number of arrivals, particularly in Italy and Spain. Since the start of returns to Libya on 7 May, arrivals by boat in Sicily can be counted on one hand. And in the Canary islands in Spain, there has not been any arrival by boat in the months of April and May, and very few boats arrived in the archipelago in June. This is an effect of the returns in the high seas and joint patrol operations enacted by Frontex in Senegal and Mauritania. However, it is still too early to compare data. In fact, very little news arrives from the press in countries to the south of the Mediterranean on this issue. For this reason, it cannot stated with any certainty whether the deaths have decreased or whether the shipwrecks occur further away from the gaze of our cameras, off the Libyan coast or in the high seas.

In detail, according to the data collected from the international press by Fortress Europe, there were 339 victims along the route towards Malta and Lampedusa in the first semester of 2008 (compared with 650 in the same period of 2008), 87 off the Spanish coast (compared with 136 in 2008) and 8 in the Aegean Sea (compared with 199 in 2008), between Turkey and Greece. There is only news of one victim on the way between Algeria and Sardinia. A corpse that was fished out of the water near to the Cavoli island in the Cagliari region, whose origin may lie in a shipwreck about which there are no available details. Other three emigrants, most probably Afghan refugees, lost their lives under lorries that disembarked in the Italian Adriatic harbours after the crossing from Greece. In Egypt, three refugees were killed after being shot by the Egyptian police at the border with Israel. Two people died in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, as they tried to climb over the six-metre barrier that seals that border. There were also two victims in Calais, in France, where the harbour and Channel Tunnel represent an obligatory passage to enter England illegally. Finally, there were supposedly at least 14 victims of the crossing of the Sahara during the first half of the year, according to the very few pieces of information arriving from Saharan countries.

June has also been a month in which deaths were counted: 29 in the Gibraltar Strait, off the Spanish coasts; 3 in Egypt, shot by the police at the Israeli border; and one in Italy, who was called Amir Rohol, was 19 years old and an Afghan asylum seeker. He died after falling off an articulated lorry that had disembarked in Ancona, along the junction between Clearway 76 and the A14 motorway.

Many are likely to use this data to justify the returns to Libya. Joseph St. John, an official from the Maltese interior ministry also stated this during a seminar in which I took part on 17 June in Malta. Refuse entry to save human lives. From the audience, an Ethiopian woman refugee raised her hand to intervene. “Excuse me, Mr. Minister – she said – what difference is there between dying at sea and dying in Libya?”. I don’t feel that there is much more to add about this.