Vol. 74/No. 27      July 19, 2010

A little over two years ago Mohamed was arrested and kept in detention for more than four months along with another Swedish-Somali man, Omar Mohamed. They were accused of transferring money to Somalia that the Swedish government claimed would be used for “terrorist” purposes. After a public campaign mobilizing hundreds of people the two men were released. No charges were ever brought against them and they were never put on trial.

Yassin Mohamed’s lawyer, Tomas Olsson, explained how the sanctions list works at a meeting May 29 sponsored by the Swedish-Somali Human Rights Committee.

“Earlier sanctions were used against states,” he explained, “but now they’ve been extended to individuals. If one member state demands that an individual be put on the list and no other state opposes this, it goes into effect within 48 hours. No reason or motive has to be given and it goes through no court proceedings. One state opposing the individual being taken off is enough to keep him there.” Ali Berzengi, an Iraqi living in Sweden, also spoke. After being convicted of financing terrorism he served his six-year sentence in full, but was kept in jail pending deportation for several months. The state found nowhere to deport him, so he was released, but has to report to the cops every day. Gösta Hultén, from Charta 08, an organization fighting for everyone’s right to due process, and Dag Tirsén, from the Communist League, also spoke.  
 
 
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