'Greece: ill treatment of asylum seekers in Mytilini

Case GRC 060803
Arbitrary detention / Ill treatment

The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Greece.

Brief description of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Greek Helsinki Monitor, a member of the OMCT network, of the detention under inhuman and degrading conditions of asylum seekers in Greece.

According to the information received, on July 19th, 2003, a boat carrying 24 asylum seekers, mainly Somalis, Sudanese and Afghans, reached the coast of Nees Kidonies, Mytilini. After being unable to place the asylum seekers in the severely overcrowded detention facility currently serving the area, the 24 individuals, including a 7-month old baby girl, were detained for five days in an open-air area at the Mytilini port under conditions that constitute ill treatment. The identities of these asylum seekers are not known at present, as local NGOs have been blocked from meeting with them.

The asylum seekers were reportedly first handed over to the police and port authorities to be transferred to the former prison establishment of Lagadas, which is currently being used as a detention centre for aliens, both asylum seekers and those awaiting deportation. The facility is designed to hold approximately 70 individuals but is now housing 223 persons living in very poor conditions. The identities of 101 of these detainees can be found in the list that you can access by clicking here. They have reportedly all submitted asylum applications individually, but have taken no copy of them back, with the date written on it and a protocol number. This has been reported to the Ombudsman, as there is no guarantee that their asylum applications will be properly processed or that they have even been registered as a result of this.

Upon the arrival of the 24 new asylum seekers, local residents protested, resulting in the Hellenic Police's (EL.AS) decision to relocate the new asylum seekers. They were moved to an ironbound open-air area in the Mytilini port. The asylum seekers, including the 7-month old baby, were subjected to intense heat during the day, cold at night, and in the first days were not provided with adequate water or access to a doctor. Some local residents volunteered to bring the asylum seekers water when they realized that the port authorities had not provided enough.

It has been reported that the detention is probably illegal under article 44.3 of 2910/01 on migrants as amended with article 21.7 of law 3013/02, which states that the asylum seekers may be held for up to three days after the prosecutor has abstained from prosecuting, but an administrative deportation order must be issued to continue the detention past three days. According to Greek law, the asylum seekers should also be informed of their rights in a language that they understand. The 24 asylum seekers have been held for more than five days under these conditions, without an administrative deportation order, and their rights have not been explained in a language that they understand. In addition, the Initiative for Refugees - Mytilini (IR-M), a local NGO, has been prevented from informing the asylum seekers of their rights. Hence, they have been prevented from filing their asylum applications.

On 24 July 2003, the 24 asylum seeker detainees were moved to an open-air facility belonging to the state, where they, along with another 15 persons who arrived on another boat on 27 July, have been living in five tents, and there are no toilets or showers there. Meanwhile, in the main asylum seekers detention facility, there are still some 215 persons - ten to fifteen in each room - while some 20 of them live outdoors, in the courtyard. For all of them there are only three toilets, two showers and three washbasins.

On 24 July 2003 a group of eight asylum seekers were told by the police to prepare their belongings in order to leave from the reception area, but they were not told where they would be going. They did leave, escorted by the police at 17 00. They had all applied for asylum but they had not been given a copy of their application with a date of deposition and a protocol number (as provided by Article 12 of Law 2690/1999 for all applications deposited with the administration) guarantying the registration of their application. Upon their departure they were not given the special identity card of an asylum applicant and were not given any paper informing them of their deportation. There is no other news about their current situation. The persons names are as follows: from Palestine – Hassan Abdulah Ramamazan, Hawad Mohmmad Hawad, Abdul Aziz Mohmmad Shohib, Hamada Harba Wey Adice, Sayid Mohmmad Ibrahim, Mohmmad Morsy Adice; from Sri Lanka – Lakshmi Heart Dingerbanda and Opali Jaysing Sayna Ratn. All of them arrived in Greece on 19.06.2003, apart from Lakshmi Heart Dingerbanda, who arrived on 11.05.2003.

Furthermore, 12 more asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been detained in the facility at Lagadas for more than three months, in violation of Article 44.3 of Law 2910/01 on the entry and stay of aliens, if indeed they have been legally detained for the initial three months on the basis of administrative deportation orders issued by the police. It is not currently clear whether they have been issued with deportation orders, but their ongoing detention is illegal regardless of whether this is the case.

The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the personal and psychological integrity of the 39 detainees being held in the open-air facility in Mytilini, most notably the 7-month old girl, for the 223 detainees being held in the overcrowded Lagadas facility and for the 8 persons whose whereabouts remain unknown. OMCT calls on the Greek government to provide the 39 asylum seekers with some form of adequate, if temporary, shelter to provide them with protection from the weather, to ensure that adequate food and water are provided, and to allow a doctor to visit them and provide whatever medical assistance the asylum seekers might need. OMCT calls on the government to allow NGOs to visit the detainees, and to end their illegal detention. Additionally, OMCT calls on the Greek government to provide better facilities and conditions for the 223 aliens being detained in the Lagadas facility, which was only built to hold 70 persons. Finally OMCT urges the Greek authorities to immediate locate the whereabouts of the eight persons who were escorted away by the police on July 24th, 2003.

Action requested

Please write to the authorities in Greece urging them to:

i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the afore-mentioned asylum seekers, notably the 7-month old girl;
ii. to provide adequate shelter to the asylum seekers and ensure they receive adequate food and water, as well as access to medical assistance;
iii. to ensure that the individuals currently being detained in the Lagadas facility are moved to more appropriate facilities;.
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Addresses

· Constantine Simitis, Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Office at the Hellenic Parliament, Greek Parliament Blgd, Constitution Square, Athens / Greece, Fax: +30 2107241776, Email: Mail@primeminister.gr
· George Papandreou, Foreign Minister, Athens, Greece Fax: 30 2103681433, Email: gpap@mfa.gr
· Giorgos Floridis, Minister of Public Order, Athens, Greece, Fax: + 30 2106917944
· Filippos Petsalnikos, Minister of Justice, Athens, Greece, fax +30 2107489231
· George Kaminis, Deputy Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax +30 2107289643

Please also write to the embassies of Greece in your respective country.

Geneva, August 6th, 2003

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.