MissZooropa
Refugee
Ok, I guess I will be a bit flamed here but I have to let it out.
After the terrorist attack US made up a list of "possible" terrorists around the world and demanded the UN, EU and the countires they lived in to "freeze" all their assets(?). This was made in oct/nov.
Why I've heard of this is because three men living in Sweden were on that list. Originally they are from Somalia.
These men had no idea why they were on the list. My first reaction was that, oh no, please let us not be involved. Since then they have got to know nothing WHY they are on the list. No proofs of them being involved in anything illegal. The only thing is that they had been involved with some bank in Somalia long ago that in some way worked for Al Qauida. (i'm not exactly sure about the relationship there though). Well, anyone who gives these three men money, employer or in private is comitting a crime.
They have gotten very little help from the swedish government (which I'm ashamed of) and noone knows or wants to tell them why. The only answer the Tv got when they decided to dig in this is that their is an investigation going on and since it's confidential they can't say anything. When they asked the mens lawyer they didn't know antyhing about an investigation.
Finally they got to conversate with the swedish ambassy in US and they ask US for any kind of proof or reason why these men were on the list and should have there assets frozen. Today we got the answer. The US don't have to tell the men why, they don't need any proof to do this and even if there isn't any proof of them being involved in anything illegal they should be on the list just to prevent them from maybe comitting anything terroristic.
What is this??? I have no words of what I thought when I heard this. This pretty much means that I can be put on a list because I've VISITED, say Afghanistan. I should be on the list because I MIGHT work with terrorist and the US wants to prevent me from that by "frighten" me. What about you're innocent until you're proved guilty?? And don't these men have the right to know WHY??? They have lived on nothing since november. And now they get to know that the US don't have to proove anything to judge people of being terrorists. These men have lived here for a long time, have good jobs and can speak for themselves, it's not like they have lived a criminal life while they have lived in Sweden.
I've been trying to be humble and openminded about this whole thing but now I actually think that the US is crossing the line for what's morally right to do in their hunt for terrorists and stopping the terrorism. Right now US are really acting like the world police and think they can do whatever they want to, in the name of stopping the terrorism. But to go and judge people like that and not letting them know why, that's too much for me.
Even if it later turns out that these men actually are guilty, the US has acted wrong, if you are accused for something, you have the right to know why, when and where and you have the right to speak for yourself and your innocence, if so, even if the the other part is the US.
Ok, I'm done, I'm upset and if someone has any more info about this I'm eager to here because I might have missed something, if so, I'm sorry. But from what I've heard, this is crazy!
[This message has been edited by MissZooropa (edited 02-14-2002).]
After the terrorist attack US made up a list of "possible" terrorists around the world and demanded the UN, EU and the countires they lived in to "freeze" all their assets(?). This was made in oct/nov.
Why I've heard of this is because three men living in Sweden were on that list. Originally they are from Somalia.
These men had no idea why they were on the list. My first reaction was that, oh no, please let us not be involved. Since then they have got to know nothing WHY they are on the list. No proofs of them being involved in anything illegal. The only thing is that they had been involved with some bank in Somalia long ago that in some way worked for Al Qauida. (i'm not exactly sure about the relationship there though). Well, anyone who gives these three men money, employer or in private is comitting a crime.
They have gotten very little help from the swedish government (which I'm ashamed of) and noone knows or wants to tell them why. The only answer the Tv got when they decided to dig in this is that their is an investigation going on and since it's confidential they can't say anything. When they asked the mens lawyer they didn't know antyhing about an investigation.
Finally they got to conversate with the swedish ambassy in US and they ask US for any kind of proof or reason why these men were on the list and should have there assets frozen. Today we got the answer. The US don't have to tell the men why, they don't need any proof to do this and even if there isn't any proof of them being involved in anything illegal they should be on the list just to prevent them from maybe comitting anything terroristic.
What is this??? I have no words of what I thought when I heard this. This pretty much means that I can be put on a list because I've VISITED, say Afghanistan. I should be on the list because I MIGHT work with terrorist and the US wants to prevent me from that by "frighten" me. What about you're innocent until you're proved guilty?? And don't these men have the right to know WHY??? They have lived on nothing since november. And now they get to know that the US don't have to proove anything to judge people of being terrorists. These men have lived here for a long time, have good jobs and can speak for themselves, it's not like they have lived a criminal life while they have lived in Sweden.
I've been trying to be humble and openminded about this whole thing but now I actually think that the US is crossing the line for what's morally right to do in their hunt for terrorists and stopping the terrorism. Right now US are really acting like the world police and think they can do whatever they want to, in the name of stopping the terrorism. But to go and judge people like that and not letting them know why, that's too much for me.
Even if it later turns out that these men actually are guilty, the US has acted wrong, if you are accused for something, you have the right to know why, when and where and you have the right to speak for yourself and your innocence, if so, even if the the other part is the US.
Ok, I'm done, I'm upset and if someone has any more info about this I'm eager to here because I might have missed something, if so, I'm sorry. But from what I've heard, this is crazy!
[This message has been edited by MissZooropa (edited 02-14-2002).]
