September
9, 2007
Helsinki, Finland, -- The Directorate of
Immigration has criticised actions by the Lutheran
Church in the affair of the Iranian-Kurdish
asylum-seeker Naze Aghai.
Director-General Jorma Vuorio told the newspaper
Savon Sanomat, that it is not the business of the
Church to advise the Directorate of Immigration on
what decisions to make.
Vuorio said he believes that the Church is
exploiting the mass media to influence the fate of
asylum-seekers.
Interviewed by YLE, the general secretary of the
Finnish Ecumenical Council, Father Heikki Huttunen,
said that in an open society governed by the rule of
law it should be possible to question decisions by
officials, and that the use of publicity to
influence events is part of the democratic system.
Räsänen: Church has right to opinions.
The chair of the Christian Democratic Party, Päivi
Räsänen pointed out that the Church has a right to
opinions.
"The Church has every right to take part in social
debate including the decision-making process
concerning application for asylum," said Räsänen on
Saturday.
She went on to note that the Church has not from the
authorities those people to whom it has given
sanctuary, nor otherwise acted in an unlawful
manner.
The current debate was sparked off by the case of an
Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker, Naze Aghai. After an
earlier failed asylum permit application, Aghai hid
from the authorities, and was later given sanctuary
by a church in Turku in June. On Friday, the
Helsinki Administrative Court suspended a
deportation order issued by the Directorate of
Immigration.
The court said that the temporary suspension of a
deportation order is not unusual in such cases and
does not indicate a final decision in Aghai's
favour. |
Naze Aghai
Asylum-seeker Naze Aghai photo-YLE 2007 |
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