Sweden’s IFIR large sit-in-strike

Chronology of events 

The Sweden branch of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) have recently organized a one-week sit-in strike and protest against the anti-asylum policies of the Swedish government, defending the asylum rights of the refugees and making the general public aware about current refugee issues. In 2006, many Sweden’s Iranian refugees 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.

The Swedish government and its immigration office have closed their eyes over all the reasons and conditions that have obliged Iranians to leave their country. Many discussion sessions with the immigration office and hundreds of letters of protest trying to clarify the situation of Iranian refugees and the fight of the people of Iran against the Hell that is called the Islamic Republic of Iran, were not able to convince the Swedish government and its immigration office to recognize and respect the “rights of the refugee” for the Iranian refugees.

-          Upon a call from the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) and to defend their human rights, between 12 and 18^th of February, Iranian refugees living in Sweden started a 24-hour sit-in-strike for 7 days at the Gutenberg’s Gustav Adolph Square. From the very first hours a large number of citizens and refugees showed their support by joining the campaign. A large tent was settled in the middle of the Gutenberg city center (Gustav Adolph Square) and journalists and anchors from many local radios, political and social activists started reporting the event. IFIR’s secretary – Sweden branch, Abdullah Assai was the first speaker. In a matter of few hours, this powerful sit-in-strike became the center of attention of Gutenberg and most of the local media were interviewing and reporting live and around the clock. People were showing up during day and night, bringing food, warm beverages, flowers and cookies. More than 3000 letters were composed and signed to be sent to the Swedish government.

-          On Tuesday Feb 13^th, reporters of P4, the national Swedish radio visited the tent and interviewed few refugees including Majid Hamidian, IFIR’s public relations’ representative, and broadcasted these interviews 3 times during that day.

-          On Wednesday afternoon, a representative from the leftist party of Sweden entered a 2-hour discussion with refugees and IFIR’s representatives and answered their questions.

To ameliorate their living conditions Iranian refugees presented the following requests:

Ø                  No refugee should be sent back to Iran.

Ø                  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.

Ø                  Covering living and medical expenses, before and after a case is refused could be a step toward such human solution.

Ø                  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. 

-          On Thursday Feb the 15^th, the most popular Swedish newspaper, the Metro, published a detailed report along with photos of the sit-in-strike. Parliamentary representatives were invited to the location to explain to people their party’s position and policy regarding the “rights of the refugee”.

-          On Friday the 16^th, the protest gained another momentum. Citizens joined in groups and expressed their support, signed letters and petitions, donated money, brought food to the tent and sat for hours by the refugees, drinking chai and discussing the crimes of the Islamic Republic and anti-human policies of the Swedish government. The daily “City”, published a report regarding the sit-in-strike. Many other reports were broadcasted by the daily Metro, the National Swedish Radio, Pejvak radio and the “City”. The “international Radio” and the “New Channel TV” also broadcasted programs regarding the event. Between 5:00 and 7:00 PM a manifestation was organized in front of the tent where some of the refugees wearing the blue jackets of the Federation, expressed their support for the refugees. In a detailed speech of the secretary of the Federation in Sweden, Abdullah Assadi explained the current political situation in Iran and the deplorable life that the Islamic Republic has imposed to the majority of Iranians. The next speaker was Behrooz Mehrabadi, the Worker’s communist party’s secretary at Gutenberg.

-          February the 17^th was the sixth day of the event. It was a Saturday and all the people who were not able to join the protest during weekdays, were now present. Many people who were passing by signed letters of support. In the afternoon two of the parliamentary parties, Mr. Yuran Lindblad (who is the representative of the moderate conservative party of the government) and Ms. Carla Lopez (the environmentalist party’s representative) entered the tent. First Mohammad Nazeri (Federation’s secretary) thanked everyone for coming and then people started questioning the two representatives. Mr. Lindblad who is also one of the European Parliament’s representatives, and who has visited Iran few months ago to do a study on the situation of the human rights in Iran said: “From what I have seen in Iran, no refugee should be sent back to this country. Iran is not a safe place for living. Based on the Foreign Ministry’s report the situation in Iran is now worse than before and after my trip to Iran, I have a darker image of that country in my mind. Unfortunately the immigration office’s ridiculous policies are completely contradictory to the report of the Swedish Foreign ministry. I suggest that refugees continue their activities against the Islamic Republic so that the immigration office and the Swedish government feel obliged to change the current policies. I believe that condemning a refugee in the immigration court in the absence of the refugee is illegal. I think deportation orders have been stopped due to the actions of refugees against the Islamic Republic”. In response to this last statement, Abdullah Assadi mentioned that the immigration office does not care about the political activism of the refugees against the Islamic Republic and gave the example of Mr. Mehdi Nik who is a well-known political activist and dissident and who is told by the immigration office that Iran is a safe place and that he has to return. Mr. Lindblad emphasized that taking into account that there are political prisoners in Iran who are killed by the government, saying that Iran is a safe place is absurd.

The environmentalist party’s representative supported the rights of the refugees and promised that she will follow up on their cause and asked for more communications with the Federation.

The Gutenberg journal (G.T.) published a detailed article with photos on the event.

- On February the 15^th, Farshad Hosseini, General Secretary of the IFIR sent an emotional and strong message of support to the refugees of Gutenberg. In his message of solidarity he emphasized that thousands of refugees around the world are following attentively this event which with no doubt will be recorded as an important action in the world’s refugee history.

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