Hot summer for asylum officials

Norwegian officials charged with taking care of asylum seekers in Norway have had a busy summer. More unrest broke out at an asylum center in Hedmark this week, while controversy continues over attempts to deport others.
Police arrested four persons after a brawl at the Haslemoen asylum center in Hedmark. Police officers from both Elverum and [...]

Illegal aliens burn down their shelter

More than 20 illegal aliens, all of them asylum seekers whose applications had been rejected, were in police custody on Wednesday after they allegedly burned down former military barracks where they’d been given shelter in Lier. Now they face forced deportation.
The destruction during the night followed a spree of vandalism and violence at both the [...]

More vandalism at asylum centers

Disgruntled asylum seekers ran amok at two holding facilities outside Oslo, smashing windows, destroying furnishings and setting fires. It’s the latest incident of violence and vandalism carried out mostly by men whose applications for asylum have been turned down.
An official at the Fagerli asylum center in Nannestad, near Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen, told Norwegian [...]

More protests at Iranian embassy

Iran’s embassy in Oslo has been the site of more protests, which resulted in vandalism to embassy vehicles. Many Iranians in Norway are unhappy with the situation in their homeland, and don’t feel secure themselves.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported Wednesday that the windows of three embassy cars were smashed, while demonstrators also threw stones and pieces [...]

Ambassador blasts asylum plan

Afghanistan’s ambassador to Norway doesn’t think a Norwegian government plan to curb the refugee stream from her war-torn country has much chance of succeeding. Asylum seekers from Afghanistan will keep coming, she says.
Manizha Bakhtari, who arrived in Oslo last year, told newspaper Aftenposten over the weekend that she welcomes the Norwegian government’s plan to finance [...]

Government gets tough on asylum

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg warned he intends to take an even tougher line on asylum policies, and will devote more funding for deportations. He wants to turn back people who have no just claims for asylum.
Under Stoltenberg’s plan, nearly 6,000 foreigners in Norway will be sent out of the country by the end of the [...]

Rejected asylum seeker can’t return

A single mother who was sent out of Norway with her young son while undergoing medical treatment after an alleged gang rape in Libya won’t be brought back, despite protests from her doctor and media pressure. Norwegian immigration authorities claim she’ll receive the protection she needs in Italy, where she initially was granted asylum.
Fathia Ahmed [...]

Proposal to lock up foreign convicts wins support

An Oslo police inspector proposed earlier this week that all foreigners convicted of crimes should be held in locked facilities until they can be deported. Now she’s won broad support for the plan.
Police Inspector Hanne Kristin Rohde, who often serves as a police spokesperson in cases involving violent crime, told newspaper Dagsavisen on Tuesday that [...]

Pressure grows on asylum attorneys

Norwegian media has turned the spotlight on attorneys for asylum seekers this week, as complaints rise about the treatment some seekers receive when their cases are evaluated. At the heart of the issue is the disturbing story of a young single mother who was sent out of Norway and now is living on the streets [...]

Asylum seekers sent home

A large group of asylum seekers from the Balkan countries was deported over the weekend, after authorities determined they had no right to seek protection in Norway.
The police in charge of asylum cases (Politiets utlendingsenhet, PU) rounded up 78 would-be refugees from various asylum centers in eastern Norway early Saturday morning, drove them to Oslo’s [...]

Asylum applications take a dive

The number of persons seeking asylum in Norway fell by 40 percent last month, down to just 711. Immigration authorities said the total number of asylum applications so far this year is down 39 percent, to 1,552.
It remains unclear whether the reduction is a direct result of government efforts to stem the tide of would-be refugees [...]

Norway and Iran expel diplomats

Relations between Norway and Iran have taken a turn for the worse, with each country expelling diplomats after Norway granted asylum to a former consul at Iran’s embassy in Oslo. The former consul claims Iran is simply trying to prevent other Iranian diplomats from defecting as well.
The diplomatic drama started earlier this year, when Mohammed [...]

Illegal aliens to get medical help

Norway’s left-center government coalition has decided to extend the country’s national health care services to illegal aliens, with clearer rules regarding the type of aid and emergency services to which they’ll be entitled.
Children arriving in Norway without identity papers, pregnant women and psychologically unstable persons will be granted full access to the state health care [...]

Former Iranian diplomat wins asylum, says others are quitting, too

An Iranian diplomat-turned-refugee in Norway, who left his post at the Iranian Embassy in Oslo to protest his own government’s harsh treatment of political opponents, has been granted political asylum in Norway.
Authorities had said his application would be handled like all others, and attributed their relatively speedy approval to “clear information and conditions” surrounding his [...]

Rejected asylum seekers sent home

Norwegian government officials chartered a jet and forcibly sent 30 rejected refugees back home to Iraq over the weekend. The sudden deportations drew protests from some asylum advocates, but praise from opposition politicians, not least because the 30 included 11 persons with long criminal records in Norway. Others whose asylum applications have been turned down [...]

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