Resolution proposed by Young FoEE and FoE Hungary and approved at Friends of the Earth International Biennial General Meeting in Indonesia, 2016 December.
On November 30th 2016, a refugee from Syria named Ahmed, who got asylum in the EU and was trying to help his family in the perilous journey to Europe, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Hungary under the charge of terrorism. He was convicted with little evidence.
On September 16th 2015, Ahmed and his family were among hundreds of refugees stranded at the Roszke/Horgoš border crossing when clashes broke out with the Hungarian police. When people tried to cross the border, the Hungarian police responded with tear gas and water cannons, injuring dozens. News footage taken at the time captured Ahmed using a megaphone to call on both the refugees and the police to remain calm during the closure of the Hungarian border. Dozens were arrested, including Ahmed’s mother and father, who, along with eight others, were charged with „illegal entry” while participating in a „mass riot” (they are called Roszke 11). They spent the next 8 months in a Hungarian jail and were released only in July 2016. After their relase, Ahmed was singled out at a train station, and violently arrested. The Hungarian police used the discovery of Ahmed’s parent’s passports in his bag as part of the evidence to paint him as a „terrorist”. He was charged with an „act of terror” along with the same charges against his parents.
This is just another evidence of the violent oppression of refugees in Hungary in the recent years. Last July, Hungary’s Prime Minister labelled the arrival of refugees to Europe a „poison”, claiming that „every single migrant poses a public security and terrorist risk”. Earlier this year, Hungary’s Government passed a constitutional amendment and related laws, giving the Prime Minister power to declare a „terror threat situation”, which allows to declare a state of emergency.
We cannot allow for this to become a normalised reality in Europe, that borders stay militarised and that anti-terror powers are used to target someone involved in a protest. As the FoE network, we cannot allow for the repression of refugees and (present and future) climate displaced people – who are not even protected by international law – to continue.
We, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), the largest federation of grassroots environmental justice organizations from 75 countries, gathered at our Biennial General Meeting (BGM) 2016 held in Lampung, Indonesia condem the Hungarian Government for this attrocity, and show solidarity with Ahmed and so many other refugees who are facing dicrimination and violence in the face of conflict, political persecution, climate change.