Iranian asylum seekers sew mouths shut to protest Greek mistreatment

25/10/2010 / GREECE – IRAN

Iranian asylum seekers sew mouths shut to protest Greek mistreatment

Hunger striker Mandana Daneshnia. Photo posted by Amir Mohsen on Facebook.

As Greece faces growing international pressure to improve its “catastrophic” immigration system, a group of Iranian asylum seekers have sewed their mouths shut during a hunger strike in central Athens to press the Greek government to accept their applications for refugee status.

The 45 protesters, eight of which sewed their lips together with medical threads, have been on hunger strike for 12 days in a makeshift tent in front of Athens University. All say they were forced to flee Iran after facing harassment or persecution from authorities. They claim their treatment at the hands of Greek border police has been little better.

Last Wednesday, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, warned that the Greek asylum system is “dysfunctional” and has created “catastrophic” conditions for refugees. During a 10-day fact finding mission in which he visited dozens of prisons, police stations, hospitals and administrative detention centres, he found detainees who had been locked up for up to six months in overcrowded, filthy cells, with very bad ventilation and lighting. Access to medical care, lawyers and interpreters was also very limited. The Special Rapporteur said he received “numerous consistent allegations” of beatings by police officers, but that there was “little forensic evidence” to corroborate them.

Greek law enforcement officials are overwhelmed by the near-constant flow of hundreds of irregular migrants entering the country via Turkey or by sea on a daily basis. In 2010, 90% of the arrests of irregular migrants in the European Union took place in Greece, and there is currently a backlog of 52,000 asylum cases to be examined. Late Sunday, following Nowak’s call for “joint European action” European Internal Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the EU will help Greece face the growing problem.

First day of hunger strike in front of Athens University. Video posted on Youtube on October 14 by United Democracy Iran.

Contributors

Massoud Faramar...

"In the border detention centre, we were fed one meal per day and slept on the floor"

Massoud Faramarzi Khosravi, 51, is an Iranian asylum seeker who has lived in Greece for the past 4 ½ years. He is currently participating in the hunger strikes in Athens.

We decided to do this hunger strike - even going as far as sewing our lips together for some of us - because our situation here in Greece is absolutely unbearable and so far all of our letters to various government ministries have been ignored. Even now, the only response we have had from the government has been through the media. They say we are bluffing, doing this for show. But there were 25 of us at first, and 20 more people have joined us since the start of the strike, including families with children. Would they come if we were bluffing?

Greece is like a prison, we are trapped here. We are forced to remain on the territory while our asylum requests are examined, and the procedure can take years. One man in our protest has been in Greece for over 12 years and still his asylum request has not been dealt with! If they catch us trying to leave the country to go to another European country we are immediately arrested, locked up, and face deportation to our country of origin. We can’t go back to Iran, because our lives are in danger there. We have appealed to the embassies of other EU countries to let us file asylum requests outside Greece.

"We are trapped here"

When I arrived four years ago over the Turkish border, I was arrested and locked in a detention centre in the border town of Feres. I stayed there for over three months, in a cramped common cell with between 20 and 40 other people, depending on the days. There were men, women, sometimes even children. It was dark and filthy. We slept directly on the floor, not everybody had a blanket. They gave us only one meal per day, we were always hungry and thirsty. Several times, I witnessed guards badly beating up a prisoner because he had said or done something they didn’t like. [France 24 has contacted the Feres border detention centre, which was one of the centres visited by Nowak, for their response to these allegations. We will update the post with their statement once we receive it.] But we are not criminals!”

Massoud Faramar...

Pictures of the Iranian hunger strikers

Protesters gather in a tent in front of Athens University.

Poster at the protest site: Greece crushing the Iranian immigrant.

Another poster encourages citizens to fax the Greece interior ministry and the UN Commission for Refugees in support of the hunger strikers. All photos posted on the protester's Facebook Group.

Post written with France 24 journalist Lorena Galliot.

Comments

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WOW. I'm simply blown away by

Submitted by Bird (not verified) on Fri, 29/10/2010 - 18:31.

WOW. I'm simply blown away by the lack of compassion in these comments (ie. Pamela Wells calling the Iranian refugees "cockroaches") Seriously? I suppose if you were seeking political asylum in a neighboring country and you find yourself so unfortunate as to meet with these kinds of circumstances, then you will remember your own ignorant and hateful words when no one will help you.
This kind of thinking is what is wrong the world today. We have no sense of brotherhood or unity. I feel sorry for people like you Pamela; giving the rest of us Americans a bad name.

Greece, Europe

Submitted by James (not verified) on Sat, 05/02/2011 - 21:58.

Greece has a huge problem with illegal immigrants. Not only Iranians, but especially Indians. Athens now has huge shanty towns, with illegal immigrants that promote a huge crime problem and welfare dependancy, and have pushed the health systems to breaking point. Unfortuneatly, these issues will effect the remainder of the world, and in some cases, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Holland etc. problems with these immigrants are well documented. The USA is better able to control immigration through its remote location, however, given the liberal family reunification rules, it wont be long before they have the same problems. We have to return these people, if we dont, we are going to throw away our futures. We mustn condemn our children and grandchildren to the dangers, the expense and frankly the lower standards of living that these people will inflict. Let them go back to their own countries and try to fix the problems. This is what other countries have done in years gone by. It is only in recent years that transportations systems have allowed countries to avoid civil problems by encouraging their people to move to Western countries where the infrastructures are established rather than push for change at home that may impact the ill gotten gains of the ruling elites. The ruling elites who will in turn move to the West when they have stolen enough.

Greece's refusal to allow asylum to Iranians

Submitted by Pamela Wells (not verified) on Thu, 28/10/2010 - 00:15.

Here in Southern California, 95% of the Iranian immigrants are Jewish. There are, of course, the 5% who are not. Doesn't matter. It's the culture of the country they are from. Apparently, from 20 years of experiencing them here in Southern California, they learn to be VERY aggressive in Iran, and to cheat virtually all of their acquaintances and friends wherever they are. They are especially good at forgery of real estate documents --- yet no one in Southern California has figured that out yet!!! Hah! I adore Greece and congratulate it on its insight into these cockroaches. It's simple: Greeks do not want their country and their culture RUINED! That's why these Iranians are getting ignored or refused by the Greeks. Good going, Greeks!

Refugee in Greece

Submitted by Some One (not verified) on Fri, 06/05/2011 - 03:18.

@ pamela , which iranian broke your little heart? where the hell did you get that figure? 95% jewish !!!
try to read some books and travel a little bit , you sound very ignorant and hateful , why there are SO many ignorant people in the United States?

Disgrace

Submitted by Dani (not verified) on Wed, 27/10/2010 - 12:24.

These iranians should be given asylum straight away. If the Greeks are not civilized enough send them to Germany or further north. First the euro scandal and now this. Greece is a disgrace to Europe, we should expel them like we will never let in turkeyland. Iran is the new third Reich and all refugees should be helped .