American family wants asylum in Finland

[tocqueville]

21 minutes ago

HELSINKI, Finland - An American family with three small children has applied for political asylum in Finland, immigration officials said Friday.

The five family members came to Finland on Tuesday from Germany, said Minna Serradj from the Directorate of Immigration.

“It’s very unusual for a U.S. citizen to apply for asylum,” Serradj said, declining to give details in line with a policy to protect asylum seekers. “I don’t remember when we last had Americans applying.”

Serradj declined to comment on local media speculation that the parents possibly were seeking to escape serving in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_re_eu/finland_us_asylum

[Waya]

1. So, it has come to this......

......

[Lint Head]

2. Tanks in the streets of your home town. Just imagine.

Did you ever think that America would be attacked while the President sat in a kindergarten class reading My Pet Goat? Did you think Habeas Corpus was the law of the land? Did you think you would ever see the President condone releasing the name of an American spy? After a while people will see the evil this nation has been taken over by and more Americans will flee in fear. :dem:

[jmatthan]

3. Ray Taliaferro and Thom Hartman mentioned it

I sent this to Ray and Thom and both mentioned it on their programs earlier on Friday.

This news item appeared in our local newspaper on Friday morning (20 hours ago).

They are unlikely to get refugee status in Finland because, as per the Dublin Agreement, they must apply at their point of first touchdown in Europe, which was Germany.

Also as I explained in my email to Thom, the new Finnish Government is sucking up to the neocons as they want to get onto the NATO gravy train. If they have half an option, they will deport the family back to the US to get on the right side of the US malAdministration, stating that US is considered a "safe" country!

Jacob Matthan
http://jmpolitics.blogspot.com
Oulu, Finland

[tocqueville]

4. it reminds of the Vietnam era

It depends too what are the motives for the demand. If it involves desertion for example, the risk for harsh penalties can do they are granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds", not political. They picked up the wrong country, they should have flown to Sweden.

[smoogatz]

5. More coming soon, to a Scandinavian country near you.

If Bush declares martial law and cancels the '08 elections, that is.

[provis99]

6. I guess now that Canada sucks up to the Americans, they have to rely on Finland

Seriously, I read that American soldiers seeking asylum from desertion charges in Canada have been told they are no longer eligible, because Canada wrote a special law exclusively prohibiting American soldiers from seeking asylum. From what I've heard of the Conservative government up there, its run by one of these Christian fundamentalist nuts sucking up to Bush. Oh well, there's always Scandinavia.

[Purveyor]

7. I heard this today on one of the AAR shows. K&R and thanks for posting. eom