Saturday, February 14, 2015

Greece to shut migrant detention centres after inmate suicide

It is the first time that the cameras are allowed to enter the  inaccessible Amygdaleza immigrant detention center in western Athens area: Containers, gravel and human souls crying for freedom on the barbed wire.
Watch the Public Order Minister Yannis Panousis as he walks among minors and adult immigrants, who have climbed to the wires and cry for their freedom, in a place that could be conceived and constructed only by a morbid mind.
Minister pledged in a statement that the new government will keep the electoral promise and will close Amygdaleza, and requested time.
A few hours ago, on the previous evening (February 13, 2015) at Amygdaleza, one unlucky Pakistani immigrant, Nadim Mohammed, hanged himself from the bars of his bed. They found him dead four hours later. He was said to have been married with children and had just moved in Amygdaleza from Crete where he was detained previously.
Shortly before, on Tuesday, February 10, another prisoner of Amygdaleza died, the 23 year old Sayed Mehdi Akbari from Afghanistan. The diagnosis said he was suffering from AIDS and hepatitis C. He died very quickly and doctors said that the competent authorities have been slow to carry him to the hospital, "so doctors could no longer do anything."
Athens, Greece, 14 February 2015.

Video: Κραυγή για την Eλευθερία - Cry for Freedom

 Η πρώτη φορά που μπαίνει κάμερα στο άβατο της Αμυγδαλέζας: Κοντέινερ, χαλίκια και ανθρώπινες ψυχές πάνω στα συρματοπλέγματα.
Παρακολουθήστε τον Υπουργό Δημόσιας Τάξης Γιάννη Πανούση να προχωρά ανάμεσα στους μετανάστες ενήλικους και ανήλικους, που έχουν σκαρφαλώσει στα σύρματα και φωνάζουν για την λευτεριά τους, σε ένα χώρο που μόνο κάποιος νοσηρός νους έχει συλλάβει και κατασκευάσει.
Ο Υπουργός δεσμεύτηκε με δήλωσή του ότι η νέα κυβέρνηση θα κρατήσει την προεκλογική της δέσμευση και θα κλείσει την Αμυγδαλέζα, και ζήτησε χρόνο.
Το αμέσως προηγούμενο βράδυ (13 Φεβρουαρίου 2015) στην Αμυγδαλέζα, ένας άτυχος Πακιστανός μετανάστης, ο Ναντίμ Μοχάμεντ, κρεμάστηκε από τα κάγκελα του κρεβατιού του. Τον βρήκαν νεκρό 4 ώρες μετά. Ήταν παντρεμένος με παιδιά και είχε μόλις μεταφερθεί στην Αμυγδαλέζα από την Κρήτη όπου κρατείτο προηγουμένως.
Λίγο πριν, την Τρίτη 10 Φεβρουαρίου, πέθανε ένας ακόμη κρατούμενος στην Αμυγδαλέζα, ο 23χρονος Σαγιέντ Μεχντί Αχμπαρί από το Αφγανιστάν. Η διάγνωση ανέφερε πως έπασχε από AIDS και ηπατίτιδα C σε προχωρημένο στάδιο. Πέθανε πολύ γρήγορα και η διαπίστωση των γιατρών ήταν πως οι αρμόδιες αρχές καθυστέρησαν να τον μεταφέρουν σε νοσοκομείο, «τόσο που δεν μπορούσε πια να γίνει κάτι».
Αμυγδαλέζα, 14 Φεβρουαρίου 2015.

Photo Reportage:

Immigrants protest behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area.
Immigrants protest behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area.
"Body search" is written in marker outside a room. Immigrant detainees denounce horrible detention conditions.
Immigrants stand behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area.
Immigrant minors protest behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area.
An empty jacket looks like it wants to escape. Immigrant clothes are spread out to dry on barbed wire.
Immigrants stand behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area.
Immigrants protest behind a fence during minister's visit, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening, at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area. Message on a paper reads: "Freedom! We die here".
Τhe squalid room that the Pakistani detainee allegedly committed suicide in Amygdaleza immigrant detention camp. The detainee who committed suicide was said to have been married with children.
Detainees of the Anygdaleza migrant detention camp stand at the point where they found dead the Pakistani immigrant who committed suicide.
At a sector further than the area that the politicians visited today in Amygdaleza, the detainees raised a message written on sheets: They denounce rape by an official.
Immigrants protest behind a fence where they remain detained at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area. Sign reads that the construction of this concentration camp was co-financed by EU.
Immigrants protest behind a fence where they remain detained at Amygdaleza detention center in western Athens area, following the suicide of an inmate on the previous evening.



Related article in German language:
Spiegel PANORAMA: "Flüchtlinge: Griechenland will Unterkünfte schließen"