The A21 Campaign - Human trafficking in Greece

The anti - human trafficking organisation A21 campaign has set up a crisis care shelter and project shelter in Thessaloniki as part of their effort to help some of the estimated 20,000 women and girls trafficked into Greece. As well as providing healing and assistance to victims they are also raising awareness of the issue and working with local justice system to deal with the problem.



You can also follow the A21 campaign on Twitter and on Facebook Cause and check out their 21 different ways to help.

Latest updates on the Viva Palestina relief convoy

Video from Press TV via the Reading Palestinian Solidarity Campaign

The latest news from El Arish, Egypt is looking bad with riot police attacking the Viva Palestina aid to Gaza convoy after participants protested the decision by the government to allow only 157 out of the 450 volunteers to enter Palestinian territory. Iranian based Press TV correspondent Hassan Ghani who has travelled with the convoy says that some of those delivering the medical supplies have been sustained serious head injuries, and that both sides are in a stand off. Other Viva Palestina volunteers have also spoken of police violence and injuries sustained via Twitter, As the Irish Viva Palestina site stated last night;

"We spent almost 3 hours in a blind panic unable to locate our people, only their phones were found on the ground and answered by strangers. Some people are STILL missing. THIS is what it was like for us on this blog as it happened. God knows what tomorrow will bring after this attack. Hopefully the Egyptians have had enough fun and games and will now let them get on with their work of delivering the ambulances and aid to those who are in need of it."

They also posted footage taken from Turkish TV here. For the latest updates check out their Twitter feeds here and here.

Ironically, some of the medical supplies destined to help Palestinians in Gaza is now being used to treat those who wished to provide aid.

Egyptian riot police attack and injure UK aid convoy volunteers

Just before Christmas I reported on the Viva Palestina aid convoy that was delivering medical and educational supplies from UK to the Gaza Strip. I talked with those taking part and was deeply impressed by their commitment to their mission.

However, the latest news is not so gratifying. After being given the runaround by the Egyptian authorities and being told that they could not enter the country via Jordan they tried to get their supplies through via a Syrian port. Also the Israeli government attempted to stop the ferry the convoy reaching Egyptian territory using naval exercises as a pretext though this plan was thwarted thanks to the intervention of a Turkish warship which escorted them to their final port of call.

The latest hurdle thrown in their path are new restriction placed on who can and cannot enter Gaza placed upon them by Cairo which has said that only 150 of the 450 volunteers who have come from all over the world to help can go through. The Egyptian responded to protests by sending in the riot police who are attacking convoy members as I write this.

Follow the latest Twitter update here and here.

Viva Palestina - video from Greece

Finally got round to editing and uploading video footage of the Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy arriving in Thessaloniki, Greece last weekend. The convoy is part of an effort to get aid from Britain and other parts of the world to the Gaza Strip. Currently, they are in Turkey and will be travelling through Syria, Jordan and Egypt before arriving in Gaza on 27th December.

You can follow their progress via Twitter and find out more about the convoy at vivapalestina.org.

10 tactics for turning information into action

Info Activism from Tactical Technology Collective on Vimeo.

tacticaltech.org

"Activists and campaigners are increasingly turning to digital technology and social media platforms to get their messages across. A new documentary called "10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action" provides a handbook in how best to disseminate their ideas. But, as Colin Grant reports, the film makers are also keen to stress the fact that these new digital tools present opportunities but also, sometimes, hidden dangers."

BBC World Service

Greece's disappearing child refugees raise concern

Questions still remain about the fate of 12 under age refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq who disappeared from a shelter in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city. According to reports in the Greek press the 12 were part of a group of 13 minors taken by ferry from a detention centre on the island of Mytiline on Tuesday to stay in shelters run by NGOs in the northern port town.

However, staff at the Arsis shelter for young people stated that 12 of the 13 had signed papers giving themselves permission to leave. The case came to light when Greek member of parliament, Giannis Zogias visited the shelter only to be told that most of the refugees had gone.

According to employees of the Arsis foundation, which is funded in part by the Greek ministry of the interior the document in question is a declaration that the minors have no parents and so are their own legal guardian. Otherwise they have the right to stay in the shelters until they come of age

The fate of the group remains unknown, though probably they have made their way to Athens in order to make their way to Italy according to source quoted in Greek national daily, Rizospastis. The same source also said that over the last month more than 40 young refugees had signed similar documents and had left the Koinoniki Alleleleggi (Social Solidarity) Shelter which is run by the Thessaloniki city council.

The Greek government’s treatment of refugees has repeatedly come under fire by the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Amnesty International and the European Union for failing to abide by international agreements on the treatment of immigrants and refugees. Currently, less than 1% of those who apply for asylum are granted it.In addition European human rights groups such as Pro - Asyl and the European Commission for the Prevention of Torture have documented numerous cases of mistreatment by members of Greece’s police force and Coast Guard.

In July Arivan Osman Abdulach, a 29 year Afghan refugee died of injuries sustained after allegedly being beaten by members of the Greek port police in the northern port of Igoumenitsa in April.

The issue of immigration as become a political hot potato for the ruling New Democracy party following its recent poor showing during this year’s European parliamentary elections. Stung by loss of votes to the far right LAOS party, Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis has announced a new “get tough” policy on illegal immigrants. Actions have included clean sweep operations in the centre of Athens and swifter procedures for the deportation of immigrants without papers. In addition the government has ordered that deportees be not given the right to appeal.

However, critics of the government’s new policies have pointed out that the country is violating both European Union law and international accords on human rights.

NowPublic

Tags: Europe | Greece | Human Rights | World | immigration | refugees | unhcr | amnesty international | Thessaloniki | child refugees

Manos or Hassim. Number 481352 - Born in Greece

Manos was born in Greece in 1977, his parents immigrants from Iraq. He studied in the 17th primary school, Peiria and the 2nd junior high school, Renti. Everything went smoothly until 1992 when his father died. Manos was just 15 years old when his mother, unable to deal with the loss of her husband alone in Greece made the fateful decision to take her children to visit her home country, Iraq. It took just a few days for her to realise that this was a mistake, however, there was no going back.

The regime of Saddam Hussein welcomed them then slammed the door shut. Despite the fact that Manos was a stranger in his country of origin and didn’t even know the language he found himself doing his military service in the Devil’s Triangle, on the border between Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. He lasted just six months before deserting. However, luck was not on his side and he was arrested by the Iraqi authorities and subsequently spent 3 years 8 months in jail.

We asked him what it was like there. He falters, words are not enough,

“A fellow prisoner couldn’t take it anymore and killed himself in the the only why he could by banging his head against the wall until he passed away. Right there, in front of our eyes”. he explains.

And his own experiences? He shows us the scars on his face and body a from cigarettes burns. “They would put us in a crate 1.5 by 1.5m and keep us there for 2 months”. And for the rest of the time? “15 of us lived in a cell, 5m by 3 with cameras everywhere. They would make us beat fellow prisoners, If we refused they would kill us.”

When he was released in 2000 he couldn’t remember his name for many hours. “In prison, you see they call us by a number, mine was 481352.”

“When did you return to Greece, we ask?” “A few months later I applied for a visa from the embassy in Greece but they never gave me one”.

So he decided to come to Greece, his own country, illegally. During his first attempt he only reached as far as northern Turkey before being arrested by the Turkish authorities. After spending 17 days in jail in Kurdistan he managed to escape.

During his second attempt the same thing happened again, however, his third attempt was more successful when he managed to cross into Greece via the Evros river. Unable to pay smugglers he used a dinghy to cross the river, however he was picked up by border guards in Mandri, near Soufli. He explained his story at the local police station but the police accused him of smuggling and sent him back to Turkey illegally.



There he claimed that he was from Palestine and after spending five days in jail managed to re-enter Greece, this time getting all the way to Athens via Alexandroupoli in 2005.

We asked him about the gangs that smuggle people into the country. “I didn’t have any money so I came on my own. However, when I was in Turkey I made sure I found out everything so as to follow the same routes and tactics they used. Google maps helped me a lot.

A good spot in Turkey is in Istanbul, in Kourtoulous (Tatavla) 2km from Taxim square. From there people smugglers drive 20-30 immigrants to Evros. They take them across the river in dinghies and with the help of Greeks send them to Athens. There they are kept hostage in some home until they pay the smugglers. If the border patrols catch them they are secretly sent back to Turkey with the help Turkish authorities and Greek hunters. Otherwise they are imprisoned for three months and sent to Athens where they are served a deportation order.

A second route is from Turkey to Greece is via Bulgaria and then through Pomak villages. The third route is by boat from the Turkish coast to Greek islands such as Mytilini, Samos and Chios. These journeys cost between 2000 and 5000 euros.”


“How exactly did you you enter Greece the last time?”

“I found somebody to take me as far as the border, on the Turkish side of the Evros river. I gave him 200 euros. I had got myself a dinghy and clean clothes which I put inside a waterproof bag. This bag, along with another inflatable one served as a life belt. I crossed the river then changed into my clothes. I knew about the police road blocks in Mandra and so I avoided them. Another serious danger are the minefields but they’re further north in Didimoteixo. If you know that you’re not in danger.”



“Once I was in Athens I looked for a lawyer in order to become legal”. The lawyers, as he explains to us, are not so different to the smugglers, they ask for money for everything. From 2000 euros for a residence permit to 10,000 for full Greek citizenship. I started to work on the black market and 2 years later I met my girlfriend, Christina who persuaded me to apply for political asylum.”

“I went to the aliens bureau in Petrou Rally street. when I got there at the crack of dawn one Saturday a fewe months ago the only thing I could see were thousands of heads. It was raining and the police kept on hitting us with clubs and shouting at us to sit down. One cop started to threaten me but changed his attitude when he saw that I could speak Greek. I told him that I was Greek and so he took me to an office where I explained my story and got an appointment to claim a pink asylum seekers card immediately.”

“What will you do now?”

“I don’t know, he answers. The card runs out in one month and I hope that they will re-new it. However, I’m not sure at all about that”.

Manos is one of the hundreds of thousands of who were born in Greece who studied in Greek schools, who think, dream and fall in love in Greek. But Greece, their de facto homeland does not recognise their right to be Greek.

If Manos had Greek citizenship he probably wouldn’t have gone to Iraq and would have avoided what happened to him there. He would have been dealt as a ward of the state and a special case and not be just an asylum seeker with a pink card. A card that will probably run out. And so having no other choice he will remain an outlaw in his own country. A Greek illegal immigrant in Greece.

The text and all images belong to Afrodite Al Salech. (translation by Teacher Dude). The original article can be found on the Αφημένες κάποιες Σκέψεις blog.

Greece to set up internment camps for immigrants

The Greek daily Nea newspaper reported that the government was in the process of setting up internment camps for illegal immigrants throughout the country. Eleven disused army bases have been chosen in order to house those found without legal residency documents.

Stung by their losses in the recent European elections the ruling conservative New Democracy party has taken a sharp turn to the right in order to win back dissatisfied voters who’s defected to the far right LAOS party in last week’s elections.

In addition the police have made hundreds of arrests of suspected illegal immigrants in the centre of Athens in an action which has been interpreted as a “get tough” message by the government of Kostas Karamanlis to the party’s base following months of falling opinion poll results brought on by a series of corruption scandals and unhappiness with Athens’s handling of Greece’s deepening recession.

However, many opposition groups are doubtful whether the proposed measures will be anything other than a publicity exercise. Despite recent crackdowns the government has failed to formulate a coherent policy concerning the integration of the country’s 1 million foreign born inhabitants.

Nothing more reflects Greece’s sometimes schizophrenic attitude to immigration than the plight of those in the port city of Patra, one of the country’s gateway’s to Europe. Everyday hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan and other east Asian countries attempt to smuggle themselves aboard trucks headed for Italy. Most have no legal documents and given the fact that less than 1% who apply for asylum are granted it very little chance of ever obtaining legal travel documents.

Desperate to leave Greece, the state has made it virtually impossible for them to travel, resulting in hundreds of thousands stuck in a bureaucratic limbo in which they are constantly at risk of arrest and deportation by the police. Even those who do escape face the risk of being sent back to Greece under the terms of the EU’s Dublin II regulations which states that immigrants have to apply for asylum in the first European Union country they reach. However, countries such as Holland, Finland and Norway have suspended such agreements citing lapses and abuses of the asylum laws in Greece, especially concerning minors.

Growing concerns over immigration have been exploited by Greece’s far right parties and organisations in order to raise their public profile and gain political leverage in parliament. Giorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the nationalist LAOS party used the recent elections to promote his party’s anti - immigration policies. In addition ultra - nationalists groups such as the neo - Nazi Chrysi Aygi (New Dawn) have stepped up attacks on immigrants in Athens.

The recent clamp downs by the police have also worried Greece’s human rights groups who have often accused the police of illegal treatment of non - ethnic Greek groups. Also organisations such as Amnesty International and Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) have repeatedly condemned the country’s police and prison system of human rights abuses. In addition United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) criticised the country over its treatment of asylum seekers.

Case in point is the capital’s Petrou Ralli police station which has been repeatedly been connected with the suspicious deaths of Asian immigrants in the area. Three have been found dead, dumped in a river bed 500 metres away from the station in the area in the last eight months alone.

This is not the first time that internment camps have been used in the history of modern Greece. During the military junta which ruled from 1967 to 1974 the state set up camps on the Greek islands to imprison and torture political dissidents.

Greek government slammed over abuse of refugees

Photo: Chiara Tamburini, Brussels, all rights reserved

In a damning international report the Greek government was severely criticised for systematically denying refugees rights and turning a blind eye to abuse of those seeking asylum on its territory.

The German based PRO-ASYL (National Working Group for Refugees) report on the country claimed theat the situation was out of control and the the state had reneged on its international treaty obligations to treat asylum seeker humanely.

In the report published in October Karl Kopp, head of PRO - ASYL referred to a number of violations by the Greek government of refugee’s rights, including the summary deportation without hearing of thousands who had entered Greek territory from Turkey and the ill - treatment of other refugee by the police and border guards. One such example was given by A 34-year-old Iraqi Turkoman from Kirkuk who said that he made 10 attempts to cross into Greece before succeeding.

"One time I crossed the river into Greece and arrived in Komotini," he said. "They put us in jail for five days and then took us to the river and pushed us back. We were 60 persons. They put us in a small river boat with a motor in groups of 10. They did it in the middle of the night. It was raining hard, and the Greek police started beating us to make us move more quickly. I saw one man who tried to refuse to go on the boat, and they beat him and threw him in the river. They beat us with police clubs to get us to go on the boat."

Last year the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) also noted in its report considerable number of allegations of abuse by police officials of foreign nationals in custody including the case of a detainee allegedly tortured with pliers while in custody in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupoli.
It should be noted that the land crossing from Greece and its traditional rival Turkey is littered with anti-personnel mines and that between 1997 and 2006 61 people lost their lives due to land mines.

In addition the PRO - ASYL report outlined the unwillingness of Greek authorities to accept asylum seeker’s applications. In the first six months of 2008 the authorities issued 8,387 decisions concerning asylum applications of which all 8,387 were rejected. During the same period just 71 of 2,886 appeal decision resulted in the granting of refugee status under the Geneva Refugee Convention. In 2007 just eight of the 25,111 claims proved successful.

Also simply getting access to offices dealing with asylum applications can be a risky business. On 25th and 26th October 2008 one immigrant died in custody and several were hospitalised after 3000 desperate asylum seekers applying for papers at the Petrou Ralli police station in Athens clashed with police. The police station had ceased to accept applications from the 3rd October for an unspecified period of time according to the Greek ombudman so leaving those without documents with the possibility of arrest and deportation.

In addition refugees deported to Greece from other European Union countries under the Dublin II accord have also had their rights violated and sometimes face violence at the hands of the police according to human rights organisations. A joint report published in 2007 by the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Greek Helsinki Monitor wrote of the case of Noori, an Afghan asylum seeker transferred from Austria to Greece in December 2007.

“The policemen hit my face and the back of my head until I began hitting myself to make them stop. I thought that it is the same everywhere, the police is as bad. I thought of throwing myself out of the window in order to end my life. “

The situation has gotten so bad that that the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees has recommended that no asylum seeker be deported back to Greece from within the EU. Indeed Germany and Norway have already suspended such deportations in some cases citing concerns over human rights violations.

In a recent article on immigration in Greece for Time, Greek officials argued that the small Balkan state can not handle what is a pan European problem, however, such claims have to be seen in the light of the state’s ability to suddenly find 28 billion euros to prop up the country’s banking system in the wake of the global credit crisis.

Despite all this the conservative New Democracy government is unlikely to act to ease the plight of refugees at a time of rising domestic unemployment and embroiled as it is in the latest finance and influence peddling scandal to hit the prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis’s administration since being re-elected in September 2007.

PS. I just came across this comment on the Al Jazeera video posted above.

"Giati de tous petane pisw sth 8alassa?
Arketa me tis oumanistikes malakies , de ginete o ka8e apovlitos apo th koloxora tou na erxete edw.
Gia th metanasteush yparxoun diakratikes simfonies opws px me th Voulgaria pou erxontai oi an8rwpoi kai mpainoun se doulies kanonika kai me kanonikous mis8ous.
H paranomh metanasteush prepei na timwrite me 8anato epi topou . "

Translation

"Why don't we throw them back in the sea? enough of this humanistic b#llshit. It's just not on for every scumbag from his f#cking country to come here. As far as immigration is concerned there are discreet agreements, such as the one with Bulgaria by whuch people come and get work normally at regular wages.Illegal immigration should be punished by death.. on the spot."

NowPublic

Tags: Greece | Time | World | unhcr | human rights abuse | immigration karl kopp | pro - asyl | european immigration

Greek human rights activist accused of high treason

Panayotis Dimitras, head of the human rights organisation, Greek Helsiniki Monitor is facing possible charges of high treason and if convicted a life sentence for speaking out about minority rights in Greece.

See here for the rest of the story on NowPublic.com. Thanks to Devious Diva for putting out the word.

The Voice of the Socially Excluded

Yesterday I took the opportunity to go to The Voice of the Socially Excluded conference which was held at the Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki. This was a two day event which gave various social groups such as drug uses, ethnic minorities and immigrants the chance to voice their opinions to a wider audience .

Genti Guri, an immigrant from Albania who has been in Greece for nine years spoke of being imprisoned in the country as he is obliged, like so many others to get a residence permit every two years. No problem there you might add but the procedure is long, complicated and expensive, riddled with corrupt official on the take. As a result the process can take up to two years every time, during which the person may not leave the country even for such crisis such as a death in the family.

Others such as Mustapha Serwan, a disabled immigrant originally from Afghanistan and Larisa Iasonidou, an ethnic Greek from Armenia both told of the problems faced by people trying to life in a country where who you know rather than what you know is the main determiner in getting a job and in fact, virtually every aspect of public life here.

However, the most heartrending moments were delivered by Alexandros Karasiadis, a member of a team of Greek lawyers and human rights activists who have been investigating what can only be termed Greece's hidden gulag in which asylum seekers are held for months in absolutely appalling condition in warehouses and old cow sheds with no heating, running water, access to legal services or even a phone, for that matter.

Then the immigrants are often deported from the country without the opportunity to even apply for asylum. Not that that would help much as less than three percent of such cases are approved. The border police's casual brutality and the unwillingness of Athens to follow European law or even its own legislation has drawn criticism from Amnesty international, the United Nations and many other European countries such as Germany and Sweden which have refused to return younger immigrants to Greece due to numerous allegations of ill - treatment.

Free Abdul Rahman Shaghouri

Syrian Human Rights Committee campaigns to release a sixteen-month detainee for surfing the net. Sixteen months has already elapsed since Mr. Abdul Rahman Shaghouri was arrested for surfing sites with special interests to Syrian current affairs, downloading and distributing some news to friends.

Their contact information is here.

Amnesty international

As a result of the Blogme case here in Greece, I've decided to join Amnesty's Irrepressible Info campaign. The idea is that bloggers and other internet users can circumvent government censorship;

" Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information.

The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments – with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world – are cracking down on freedom of expression.

Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer UK newspaper, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.

Find out more about this campaign"

If you wish to have a similar badge on your site (click here) and follow their simple instructions.

A plea for help

I saw this on Devious Diva's blog and decided I had to post it here. It concerns that appalling treatment dished out to refugees living in containers in the middle of winter on the Greek island of Chios.

"I received a copy of the letter, via the Greek Helsinki Monitor, from the people detained at the camp in Chios. They are pleading for help from anyone who can do something. I am not sure who the letter was originally given or sent to but it has found its way out of that place. It is heartbreaking… Please post this on your blogs or websites. Get the word out. They need our help.

(I typed the letter in full, exactly as written, below the pictures)

To whom it concerned,

We as refugees in this camp have lost the hope even in complaining, so we take you as our only hope.

After many screams and complains about our conditions here, no-one has paid any attention. We are about 225 people in this camp for two weeks and about 190 for one month, and we know this camp can shelter only 108 people; about 21 people in each shelter sleeping over each other; about 90 without shoes, shampoo and blankets; toilets are damaged and many rooms are filled with dirty water which prevent many people sleeping; diseases are increasing and sick persons are ignored and the police is satisfied in giving just “Panadol”; two meals is not enough, bread like stones and some food is damaged; the increasing number of people creates trouble unwillingly.

We feel that we are in an isolated prison, no one talks to us and when we inform the police he says that it is not his responsibility. So we pledge you to inform any power or institution to save us because things have become unbearable and our situations turn to be under zero.

We don’t know what crime that we have committed to take this punishment and harsh treatment; we escaped war, poverty, oppression and genocidal attacks and came here to find shelter in this peaceful land.

We call all committees, Red Crescent, Human Rights, UN and every power. We call the Greek nation and the civilised Europe.

The Camp"

Και η μετάφραση από το histologion-gr.blogspot.com :

"Προς οπιονδήποτε ενδιαφερόμενο


Εμείς οι πρόσφυγες σ’ αυτό το στρατόπεδο (του Μερσυνιδίου) χάσαμε κάθε ελπίδα ακόμη και για να μπορούμε να παραπονιόμαστε, γι’ αυτό απευθυνόμαστε σε σας, σαν την τελευταία μας ελπίδα.

Μετά από πολλές κραυγές και διαμαρτυρίες για τις συνθήκες και την κατάσταση μας εδώ, κανείς δεν έχει ενδιαφερθεί. Είμαστε σχεδόν 225 άνθρωποι σ’ αυτό το στρατόπεδο εδώ και δύο εβδομάδες, και 190 εδώ και ένα μήνα, και ξέρουμε ότι στο στρατόπεδο αυτό μπορούν να παραμείνουν μόνον 108 άτομα. Σχεδόν 21 άνθρωποι μένουν σε κάθε οικίσκο και κοιμούνται ο ένας πάνω στον άλλο. Σχεδόν 90 δεν έχουν παντόφλες, ρούχα, φλιτζάνια, σαπούνι και κουβέρτες.

Οι τουαλέτες είναι κατεστραμμένες και πολλά δωμάτια είναι γεμάτα με βρώμικα νερά που μας εμποδίζουν ακόμη και να κοιμηθούμε. Οι ασθένειες πολλαπλασιάζονται και για τους αρρώστους κανείς δεν νοιάζεται ενώ η αστυνομία μας δίνει « panadol». Δύο γεύματα δεν αρκούν. Το ψωμί είναι σαν πέτρα και κάποιες φορές το φαγητό είναι χαλασμένο. Ο αυξανόμενος αριθμός των κρατουμένων δημιουργεί περισσότερα προβλήματα άθελα μας.

Αισθανόμαστε ότι είμαστε σε μία απομονωμένη φυλακή, κανείς δεν μας μιλά, και όταν ενημερώνουμε την αστυνομία, λένε ότι δεν είναι δική τους αρμοδιότητα. Γι’ αυτό σας παρακαλούμε να ενημερώσετε οποιαδήποτε Αρχή ή Οργανισμό για να μας σώσει, γιατί οι συνθήκες έχουν γίνει αβάσταχτες και η κατάσταση μας είναι απάνθρωπη.
Δεν ξέρουμε ποιο είναι το έγκλημα που διαπράξαμε για να μας αξίζει τέτοια τιμωρία και σκληρή αντιμετώπιση. Ξεφύγαμε από τον πόλεμο τη φτώχεια την καταπίεση και επιθέσεις γενοκτονίας και ήρθαμε εδώ για να βρούμε καταφύγιο σε γη ειρήνης.

*Απευθύνουμε έκκληση σε κάθε Επιτροπή, τον Ερυθρό Σταυρό, των Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων, τα Ηνωμένα Έθνη και κάθε Αρχή.

*Απευθύνουμε έκκληση στην Ελλάδα και την πολιτισμένη Ευρώπη.

Οι κρατούμενοι στο Μερσυνίδι"