And the threats continued once Ali Taleb and his family were in Sweden. They received threatening telephone calls from Iraqi numbers and on one occasion Ali Taleb was attacked and stabbed in the street.
Journalist to be deported despite death threats.
The Swedish Migration Board has decided to deport a well-known Iraqi journalist and documentary maker back to Iraq. This is despite Ali Taleb having received death threats following his film about the notorious Iraqi paramilitary force, the Mahdi Army.
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| Ali Taleb |
“Our assessment is that Ali entirely fulfils the criteria for asylum, partly because he has been threatened in his home country of Iraq and partly because he has had threats made against him in Sweden. The migration board has been bloody-minded in its interpretation of many of the facts in this case.”
Freelance journalist Ali Taleb fled with his family to Sweden three years ago and sought asylum. In Iraq he had received numerous death threats and his wife had been injured in a bomb attack. The reason was Taleb’s film about the Shia Mahdi militia, which in the past have fought against the US presence in Iraq and are also accused of murder and abuse against Iraqi civilians. After the film was aired on television, several of those who appeared in it were arrested. It was then that family members of those arrested started to threaten Taleb and his family.
“I received several threats, first via phone and then in the post. At first, I thought the purpose was just to scare me, but then I realised that they were out to kill me and my family,” says Taleb.
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| Swedish Migration Board |
“When I received the decision of deportation I was shocked,” says Taleb. "I sought protection in Sweden as a journalist. I would have been better treated in many other countries. How can they treat me like this in Sweden?”
Cecilia Gylling Lindqvist at the Migration Board’s legal unit refuses to comment on any individual cases, but says that the situation in Iraq has improved, even for journalists.
“The security situation in Iraq has improved considerably of late and there are numerous newspapers and TV stations that are blossoming.”
Urban Löfqvist of Reporters without Borders does not agree:
“It is extremely difficult for journalists in Iraq. What we have seen, as an organisation, is that the number of attacks against journalists in the country is once again on the rise.”
Ali Taleb is currently in a migration detention centre outside of Stockholm awaiting deportation back to Iraq. Reporters without Borders believes Taleb’s life will be at risk if he is sent back. Ali Taleb himself says he shall continue the fight for him and his family to remain in Sweden.
“Let them bear the responsibility it they deport me. I intend to fight against it,” he told Swedish Radio International.
Here is the link for the full article, you can listen to the article as it was on radio, pay particular attention to the Swedish authority figure saying that Iraq is considerably safer and TV and newspapers are flourishing, yes the ones owned by the Shia clerks and Militias. Ali Taleb will be murdered if he is sent back to Iraq, do anything that you can, post this article on your Facebook, tweet, text, anything! we need to use our power to stop this kind of madness. I urge all of my friends in Sweden to show their support for Ali Taleb, because today it is Ali, tomorrow it may be you!
This is my answer to the authorities in Sweden and Western governments.
Ali Taleb is my friend, when he called me, as a humnan rights campaigner I called everyone that I could think of to help. I said to Ali, "Be strong, this is the face of the western governments, they don't really care about people or Human rights, just about money, power and contracts."
The Swedish government or any other Euorpean state welcomes the murderers, militia men and thieves because they bring with them the millions that they have stolen, an example of that is the Iraqis who moved from Malmo to Stockholm, in Iraq they were not the victims but the agressors, Mahdi militia and Badr brigade that is funded by Iran. Ali knows me very well, for the past twenty years I have tried to find a country to call home, but what I have found is that most of the European countries do not like people who are educated or with opinions, they like the criminals and thieves because they know that these people can be bought, bought by the country's social welfare payments and housing. The puppets in Iraq who have signed this "return" document have forgotten when they themselves were "refugees', now because of the contracts and the money they are all blinded and have forgotten the humanity they once called for for themselves.
