From 12 to 18th of February 2007, Sweden’s Iranian refugees are starting a large sit-in-strike in the main square of the Gutenberg city center.

Iranian refugees are protesting against the anti-refugee policies of the Swedish government and are willing to defend their refugee rights and let the general public know about their issues.
These refugees are strongly protesting against what has thus far been said by the minister of immigration of Sweden. They believe that what has been said is in contradiction with the refugee criteria of Sweden and of the UN High Commissionaire of refugees. Before the new temporary refugee law was applied close to thousand of these refugees were living incognito and illegally and during execution of this new law they have received again a negative response from the immigration office. In 2006, many of them have been under tremendous amount of pressure from the immigration office to cooperate and return to Iran, where the Islamic Republic has created a veritable Hell for Iranians. As the refugees are protesting and resisting, and are not willing to cooperate with the immigration office, their living expenses are not anymore covered, their work permit has become obsolete and files of some of them have been sent to the police.

These pressures are being imposed on Iranian refugees while oppression and pressure on people in Iran have not been reduced, au contraire, waves of detainments, imprisonments, tortures of the dissidents, unjust executions and unfair and inhuman laws and trials are escalating. Nobody has any power over its life in that country and it is for the same exact reasons that the rate of suicide among women and young adults has been rising exponentially. It is really not difficult to explain what is happening to people under the Islamic regime. This is a nation that is fighting for the most crucial individual and societal liberties, is using the last human progresses and achievements and therefore is not accepting anything less than what exist in the West. There is a big gap between this nation and a government that has been keeping its sword of 1400 years ago over the head of this nation and is inviting people to pray and fast for God and judges any dissidence with the dirtiest medieval laws.
- With all of that said, is it truly possible that the Swedish government and its immigration office close their eyes over all the reasons and conditions that has obliged Iranians to leave their country?
- Is it possible not to think about the misery of human being who have been waiting 3 to 7 years just to get a piece of paper that allows them to start living?
- Is it really that difficult to understand the refugees who are coming from a country called Iran where there is no respect whatsoever for the human being and human rights are overlooked in all laws and orders?

We, the Iranian refugees have been under oppression because of the followings: Change of religion, homosexuality, political ideology, racial issues and clanship, opposing patriarchal and anti-female laws, rape, social deprivation, obligatory marriage, disrespect, mandatory hijab, imprisonment, savage tortures or just only for loving. We did not want to tolerate more than that all this injustice. Therefore having a refugee status is our indisputable right and we are announcing to the Swedish government that we will resist individually or in group to defend our right for having a life. We are asking the general public to defend us regarding our refugee rights in Sweden. For the above-mentioned reasons we consider the pressure of the immigration office and the government of Sweden concerning return to Iran, inhuman and we are protesting against these measures.

We are not going to stay silent and to defend our human rights; between 12 and 18th of February, we will start a 24-hour sit-in-strike for 7 days at the Gutenberg’s Gustav Adolph Square. In addition, on Friday February the 23rd, at 18:00, we will start a rally from Utaplatsen toward the Gustav Adolph square.

To ameliorate our living conditions we have the following requests:
1- No refugee should be sent back to Iran.
2- The Swedish government should alleviate its pressures over these refugees and instead of following policies of pressure, try to find a human solution for this problem.
3- Covering living and medical expenses, before and after a case is refused could be a step toward such human solution.
4- Many of the immigration trials have been held in the absence of the refugees which makes us think that the current procedures are not much different from the practices of the immigration office in previous years. We are asking that all cases be audited in a uniform fashion; that the immigration trial is held with the presence of the refugees and their lawyers.

The International Federation of Iranian Refugees / Sweden Branch are expecting that all organizations defending the rights of refugees, all the people of Sweden who have humanitarian tendencies, all refugees and their relatives to actively participate in this sit-in-strike and support the Iranian refugees.

 

International Federation of Iranian Refugees / Sweden Branch
Jan 26, 2007