When is an asylum seeker really an asylum seeker? Should a criminal hiding from justice be considered an asylum seeker? In the case of Norway, the answer is yes.
Not for the first time, an asylum seeker in Norway is not being deported since he faces a death sentence in his country. It seems the best thing an asylum seeker in Norway could do is go out and commit a serious crime. Maybe murder a few people. That would make prevent him from ever being deported.
Fahrad Mohammed Injeh is back in jail, after police in Follo, south of Oslo, arrested him and four others on charges of smuggling amphetamines into Norway.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported Friday that police had trailed suspected drug couriers from the Swedish border at Svinesund to a garage in Ås, which was then raided by armed police. Among the five men nabbed on the scene was Fahrad Mohammed Injeh.
Two of those arrested had driven the car from Svinesund, in which police found more than five kilos of amphetamines concealed in its framework. A third man owned the garage and the two others, one of whom was Injeh, are believed to have been the intended recipients of the drugs.
Injeh's defense attorney said his client was baffled by the charges. "This is probably a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said attorney Petter Sørensen.
Injeh, meanwhile, remained in solitary confinement Friday. He also had been arrested and charged in another drugs case in the autumn of last year, but those charges were later dismissed for lack of evidence.
Injeh and his brother first landed in Norway when they hijacked an Aeroflot flight from Baku in Azerbaijan to Oslo. The brothers were later deported, jailed in Russia and released in 1997. They managed to return to Norway via Denmark and ultimately sought asylum.
Their case sparked widespread public debate in Norway and government ministers opposed their plea, but asylum was later granted on the grounds the brothers would be hanged if sent back to Iran. Norway won't deport anyone if they face a death penalty in their homeland.
They ended up receiving residence permission in Norway in 2002. A potential drug conviction likely won't revoke that, because Injeh could still argue the need for protection from the death penalty back home in Iran. His brother hasn't been involved in any criminal offenses since returning to Norway.
Source: Aftenposten (English)
See also: Norway: Krekar not to be deported, The case for asylum seekers
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