Belgísku samtökin Solidarity without Borders héldu mótmælastöðu við íslenska sendiráðið í Brussel í gær til að vekja athygli á máli aktívistanna Hauks Hilmarssonar og Jason Slade. Haukur og Jason voru nýverið fyrir dómi í þriðja sinn fyrir að hafa hlaupið inn á flugvöll sumarið 2008, í tilraun til að stöðva flugvél sem flutti hælisleitandann Paul Ramses til Ítalíu.

Um 30 manns voru samankomnir í mótmælastöðunni sem varði í um klukkustund. Fulltrúar Solidarity without Borders höfðu fyrr um daginn farið á fund íslenska sendiherrans og afhentu honum yfirlýsingu þar sem þess var krafist að málið yrði fellt niður. Í fréttatilkynningu samtakanna kemur fram að Solidarity without Borders vilji nota mál Hauks og Jasons til að „benda á harkalega meðferð á aktívistum sem berjast fyrir mannúðlegri meðferð flóttafólks“.

Þar segir einnig orðrétt að:

„Íslenska ríkið sem vísaði flóttamanninum úr landi sneri síðar ákvörðun sinni við og veitti honum hæli, þar af leiðandi viðurkenndi það sín eigin mistök. Mennirnir tveir sem höguðu sér með virðingu og samhug gagnvart annarri manneskju eru dregnir í þriðja sinn fyrir dóm en það veitir ríkinu möguleika á því að refsa þeim fyrir minniháttar afbrot sem átti þátt í að bjarga manneskju frá ofsóknum í heimalandi sínu.“

Eftirfarandi er yfirlýsingin sem Solidarity Without Borders létu íslenska sendiherrann fá:

Solidarity without Borders demands that the Icelandic State will drop all charges against Haukur Hilmarsson and Jason Thomas Slade (case no. s- 583/2009). In case the demand is made after a sentence has been passed, and in case that the two men will be found guilty of violation of law no. 231/1940 and 168/1940, the organization demands that the Minister of Interior submits to the President of Iceland that the two men will be pardoned.

The actions of the two men should be seen as a political act, performed in order to pressure the government of Iceland for taking a greater responsibility in matters of refugees and non-documented persons. The actions of the two men should be seen in a humanitarian light where their reasons and motivations for the alleged offense should be used as an argument for dropping the case or pardoning them, should they be found guilty. Actions should always be judged according to the motivation leading them and in this case the two men acted within their civic duty to safe the life of a human being. The minor disturbance that was caused on air traffic should be found trivial in this case and it should be taken into account that they posed threat to no one. Furthermore, the Icelandic State should take into account that the refugee the two men tried to stop from being deported, was later transferred back to Iceland, reunited with his family and has been granted asylum in Iceland. Tha
t should be seen as an confirmation on behalf of the Icelandic State that the men’s actions were legitimate.

Solidarity without Borders also points out that the men have been held in a judicial limbo for the past three years, with the case being sent back and forth through the court system.

Solidarity without Borders requests that the Icelandic State will stop prosecuting activists, who are acting within their duty as citizens, for trivial offense that harmed no one, caused no damage to property and did not put anyone in danger except themselves. Cases such as that against Hilmarsson and Slade should always be put into a bigger context and reasons and motivations evaluated.

Your sincerely,

Solidarity without borders