Hussein Jahankir is dead.
He was found in almost the same spot as another man (I have not been able to find his name) died a short while ago near the Aliens Bureau in Athens.
[Aside: Can’t we change the name of this institution? How about the Registration Bureau?
There are mixed up reports on both deaths. The police say one thing. The human rights activists and community groups say another. Full investigations are needed in both cases. I am pessimistic that this will happen because “migrant” deaths are not news.
A migrant was found dead in a ditch in Votanikos early on Saturday just a few hundred meters from the Aliens Bureau of Attica, near the center of Athens, where several thousand people gather every weekend to submit their asylum applications.
The man, a Bangladeshi thought to be approximately 30 years old, was discovered by a passer-by on Saturday morning. Police said that they were informed at 6.40 a.m. The man was found some 700 meters from the Aliens Bureau and the migrant was officially pronounced dead after his body was taken to the hospital. A cause of death was not announced. Police stressed that there had been no officers in the area at the time of the man’s death.
The body was found very close to the spot where a 29-year-old Pakistani man died in October. At the time, police claimed that he had slipped and fallen into the ditch while relieving himself, but human rights groups claimed that officers from the Aliens Bureau had been chasing the migrant at the time.
His death has not gone unnoticed by human rights activists and community groups even though the mainstream media has chosen to focus on other more “important” deaths. In no way do I wish to take away from the tragedy of the death of Alexis Grigoropoulos, which sparked nationwide protests and riots but I do want to point out that other people are dying at the hands of Greek police, coastguards and prison authorities. All of their lives are precious and investigations should be widespread and inclusive.
Protest organized for Sunday
As many as 35 organizations have said they will take part in a rally against racism in Athens on Sunday to protest the death of a Bangladeshi man who was found lying in a ditch in Votanikos near the Aliens Bureau on Saturday. Hussein Jahankir, 30, was the second person to be found dead near the building where migrants line up every weekend to be among the few picked to submit their asylum applications. The head of the Bangladeshi community in Greece, Mohammed Golam Maola, stressed that Sunday’s protest will be peaceful.
We must continue to pay attention
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Not good. I was born here, lived here for the first 15 years of my life then lived another 15 in Sydney before coming back here. I have been back in GR for over 4 years now and as much I would like to I cannot go native again when all of this, and more, is happening. Thinking hard about selling, packing up and heading to France to actually be in Europe. I feel homeless a lot of the time.
I hope Hussein’s death is investigated effectively because death is not the way you process immigrants. It seems that in this country they are incapable of processing them in any meaningfull and offcial way.
@ Aris,
I am sorry that you are thinking of leaving Greece. I find it really sad that you are Greek yet you don’t feel that you can make this country your home.
I wish there was a way that the Greek state could recognise and appreciate the talented, dynamic people that it has and make it easier for them to stay. But who can blame people for leaving when the wages are so low, talents/skills are unrecognised and unrewarded and corruption is so rife that it’s ridiculous.
It seems that the authorities are FORCING people to cheat and lie just in order to get by. We have been stung for several thousand euros just to avoid being “checked” (as in, they mysteriously FIND mistakes in your books) and found liable to pay many thousands more. Totally illegal but who’s going to argue with them when they have the power?
On your other point, I also think that the Greek authorities are incapable of dealing with immigrants “in any meaningful and official way”. They don’t know how, they have no will or incentive to do so and hardly anyone cares when they don’t. I mean, hardly anyone cares when they kill or injure immigrants so why should we expect people to care whether there is proper process? It makes me sick to the stomach but I keep holding onto the idea that it’s because people are not informed and that if they were, they would care. I could be woefully misguided but I couldn’t carry on with this blog of I didn’t believe it to be (even partly) true
deviousdivas last blog post..No More… Again
I hope you are right. Greeks are people like everyone else. They do not behave the way they do because of some special wiring. Assuming that, then you are right, people here will eventually care as much as people everywhere else do. I hope 2009 brings them closer to caring enough, epsecially their leaders.
I finally found a comment form that might work!
Sorry about all the mess-ups here over the past day or two.
Let me try all the features too..
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deviousdivas last blog post..Deepest Condolences