Fortress Europe

This has been quite a week. Fortress Europe indeed.
Ahmed Issa was deported on the 17th of September. He was the scapegoat for starting the terrible fire at Schiphol Oost detention center 4 years ago now. Ahmed suffered from 2nd degree burns himself and was in a coma, as soon as he came out of his coma he was questioned, detained and isolated by the Dutch state!! He was then in prison for 3 years while his case was going on. Recently at the Palace of Justice (some photos if you follow link) he was given a guilty verdict for having started the fire and sentenced to 18 months (which he had already done) but he wasnt blamed for the death of the people. Ahmed was then arrested that same evening by the immigration police for being illegal and about 10 days later sent back to Libya. A final "shut all mouths" by the Dutch goverment.
A little history for those who dont know:
There was a fire in the immigration detention centre at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam on the night of 26 /27 October 2005, killing 11 people and injuring 15. Approximatly 298 people were locked up in the cell complex. They had done nothing wrong. Thier only crime was to have no valid residence papers. An independent investigation was launched as authorities were accused of failing to follow fire regulations in the prison complex which concluded that the Ministry of Justice was responsible for the failings,which finally lead to the resignation of two ministers.
Despite the investigation the courts decided that a victim of the fire, Ahmed Isa was sentenced to 3 years prison for having thrown a cigarette bud on the ground which apparently was the cause of the fire. According to Ahmed, he smoked a cigarette while he was falling asleep and flicked it off on the floor ( didnt remember if it was out or still burning). He woke up to his feet on fire and ran trying to ring the alarm and get security. They were not there. All systems failed and finally when the guards did manage to get him out of his room they left the door open thus spreading the raging fire throughout the cell. They then proceeded to open the doors from the wrong side of the hall. While people in rooms closer to the fire were suffocating and burning. All the victims then died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Locked up in their rooms. With no way out. The fire service arrived after 25 minutes because the fire alarm did not work properly. The staff in the detention center were not trained to deal with a situation like this. The traumatised victims of the fire were then handcuffed and locked up in the infamous prison boat in Rotterdam for more than a month.

Imagine being charged as someone who started a fire that killed 11 people and then deported after almost 4 years of suffering.
And your only crime was that you had tried to escape a bad situation and wanted to make a better life for you and your family.

I have been documenting images and videos of this case for more than a year. About a year and half ago while vising the Schiphol Oost Detention Center for the first time i was recording with my camera when the guards came and tried to take my video and tape away. I hadnt recorded much but just the fact that the people talked to us from the cage was enough for them. Fortunatly i was with a long time activist and journalist who knew our rights and did not allow the police to touch my camera.
Here is the short clip i recorded.

The "jungle" in Calais was cleared out yesterday.
While the media focuses all its attention at Calais, people escaping the brutality of war and poverty elsewhere still have nothing.
This video was made in a deportation center in Lesvos, Greece.
There exist thousands more places like this in modern day Europe.

In Unity.
Pooja