Norway Deports Islam Critic Imran Firasat to Spain
Wednesday, 30 July 2014 06:19 Admin
imran-firasatIt seems it is Imran Firasat's sin that he is not a deadly Jihad terrorist like Mullah Krekar seeking to destroy the West. Had he been one, he would have found refuge and protection in Norway or any other Western country. Instead, he chose to abandone Islam because of its violent nature and become a passionate critic of the terrorists like Mullah Krekar and their deadly ideology. As a result, there is no place for Imran Firasat in Spain or Norway, and probably nowhere in Europe.
We reported recently that Imran Firasat—having lost his final appeal at the Spanish Supreme Court for the reinstatement of his refugee status, which the Spanish government had revoked two years ago for making the film the Innocent Prophet—recently moved to Norway and sought asylum there, as the Spanish police was looking for him to process his deportation to Pakistan or Indonesia, where he faces execution for apostasy and criticism of Islam.
We also informed that the Norwegian authorities, ignoring his asylum request, detained him and was trying to deport him in a hurried manner.
And indeed he was deported on Monday afternoon to Spain without giving his lawyer sufficient time to contest his deportation in court.
“This seems cynical and as if there is no interest to take into account the fact that this is a unique situation,” said attorney Heidi Bache-Wiig.
“They have made this decision so quickly that we hardly could seek review of the case. Even when we came with new information, they did not changed the decision,” added Bache-Wiig.
“Norway has thus helped to persecute a Christian,” said Liv Finnseth, the head of the support group for Imran Firasat.
For fear of being deported to Pakistan or Indonesia, Firasat fled to Norway. He was quickly arrested and detained because Norwegian police feared he would evade a decision to leave the country.
“We did not demand that he gets asylum in Norway. We only asked that his asylum application be processed in Norway,” explains Bache-Wiig.
The authorities decided to deport him just before the weekend. Since then, Imran support group and attorney worked feverishly to postpone the decision without success.
“Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg could not deal with the case on such short notice,” explains attorney Heidi Bache-Wiig.
Terming Imran Firasat's deportation by Norway alarming, renowned freedom of expression organization PEN's board member Ann-Magrit Austenå, “She believes the primary responsibility in this case lies with the Spanish authorities, but if they do not take the responsibility, then it lies the Norwegian authorities.”
Emphaszing the government's first and foremost responsibility to uphold the rule of law and to preserve freedom of expression in Europe, said Austenå:
“They (Norway) should at least contact the Spanish authorities as to whether they intend to expel him to Pakistan. If they do, Norway can not send him to Spain, and his case would then have been considered here. If Spain proceed to deport him to Pakista, where he risks persecution and danger of death, it is a violation of the European Human Rights by Norway,” added Austenå.
http://www.islam-watch.org/authors/146-admin/1555-norway-deports-islam-critic-imran-firasat-to-spain.html
