(Yle) The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has resumed processing of asylum applications from Syrians. Those applications have been in limbo since December due to dramatic changes in the security situation in Syria. Migri said on Friday that it had begun conducting asylum […]
(Helsinki Times) A coalition of 40 Finnish Muslim organisations has issued a joint statement rejecting proposals to ban face-covering religious garments in schools and public spaces. The statement, dated 24 September and signed by groups including Finland’s Muslim Forum and Federation of […]
(Helsinki Times) The Finnish government is assessing whether it can move forward with legislation restricting face coverings in public places during its current term, according to Interior Minister Mari Rantanen. In a statement released by the Ministry of the Interior, Rantanen said […]
(Helsinki Times) Finland’s Immigration Service has clarified that Palestinian asylum seekers from Gaza are not automatically entitled to international protection, following public confusion caused by a misinterpreted internal document. The agency, known as Migri, said on Thursday that a previously leaked internal […]
(Yle) Since the start of the school year, Muslim students’ headscarves have become a political topic of conversation. On Tuesday, Social Security Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (NCP) said in a social media post that the use of burkas and niqabs that cover the […]
(Yle) Finland’s minister of social security, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (NCP), has spoken out on social media against the wearing of burkas and niqabs in schools. Posting on X, she said face coverings do not belong in schools. “Burkas and niqabs — scarves and […]
(Helsinki Times) Dozens of forced marriages are uncovered in Finland each year, many involving underage girls and some occurring within Finland’s borders. Authorities say such cases often remain hidden and are only revealed when victims feel safe enough to speak. The Finnish […]
(Helsinki Times) A political aide to Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra has come under criticism for calling Islam “the devil’s plot” in a heated Facebook exchange during the Eurovision Song Contest final. Jari Mäkäräinen, a special adviser responsible for communications in Purra’s […]
(Helsinki Times) A dual Finnish-Russian citizen is suspected of aggravated human trafficking after allegedly taking her minor children into a conflict zone controlled by the Islamic State in Syria in 2014, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced on Thursday. The woman, […]
(Yle) Chancellor of Justice Tuomas Pöysti on Wednesday ruled that Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) did not act unlawfully in the preparation of this year’s refugee quota. Under the refugee quota, Finland admits persons recognised as refugees by the UN Refugee Agency […]
(Yle) Finns Party Minister Mari Rantanen survived a confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday by a margin of 94–53, with 15 abstentions and 37 MPs absent. The vote was called by the opposition Greens and supported by the Left Alliance. The parties […]
(Yle) A joint statement signed by a total of nine Muslim organisations has called on the Finnish government to take “immediate action” in response to reports of alleged discrimination by the Interior Ministry in the allocating of quota refugee places for this […]
(Yle) The opposition Green Party has submitted a no-confidence motion in Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns), following a report by the non-discrimination ombudsman regarding the ministry’s quota refugee arrangements. The Greens submitted the motion one day after the ombudsman issued a report […]
(Yle) Finland’s Interior Ministry acted in a discriminatory manner as it prepared the country’s quota refugee plan for 2025, according to a report by the non-discrimination ombudsman’s office. The office found that the ministry favoured asylum seekers from Christian-majority countries when it […]
(Yle) The number of schools with Muslim pupils is steadily increasing. As a result, some schools are taking a stance on children fasting during Ramadan which began on Friday. Ville Raatikainen, head of basic education at the city of Helsinki, told Finnish […]
(Yle) Finland will take in 500 quota refugees next year as part of the UNHCR’s resettlement programme, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a press statement released on Thursday. The statement also revealed the allocation of the quota, meaning which refugee groups will […]
(Yle) The Finnish Parliament has voted in favour of a government proposal to draft a specific law banning the practice and preparation of female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM refers to the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for […]
(Yle) Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has requested that the Interior Ministry review its plans on how Finland’s refugee quota will be allocated next year. Finnish media reported last month that the Finns Party has proposed reducing the number of quota […]
(Yle) Finland’s interior minister, Mari Rantanen (Finns), has confirmed to Yle that she supports a proposal put forward by 14 of her party colleagues earlier this week calling for a ban on face coverings in public places. The proposal would effectively mean […]
(Yle) The Interior Ministry’s quota refugee plans for next year — which are currently being prepared — are likely discriminatory on religious grounds, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman office has warned. Last month, Finnish media reported that Finns Party ministers want to reduce the […]
(Yle) The Helsinki Administrative Court has rejected appeals related to a fine imposed last year on a mosque operating in a Helsinki apartment building. The owner of the property, the Ormuspuisto housing company, and the Pohjoismaiden Säätiö (“Nordic Foundation”), which operates on […]
(Yle) The Finns Party has proposed reducing the number of quota refugees accepted from Muslim-majority countries while increasing the intake from Christian-majority nations, according to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. According to sources, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) and acting interior minister Lulu Ranne […]
(Yle) Helsinki District Court has remanded into custody three men suspected of involvement in the activities of a terrorist group. The three defendants — all believed to be aged in their 30s — were detained by police last Tuesday and remanded on […]
(Yle) Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) suspects a Finnish woman of aggravated human trafficking of her own children after she brought them to the ISIS “caliphate” in the region of Syria and northern Iraq in 2014. Detective Inspector Jan Aarnisalo, who […]
(Reuters) Only the whine of mosquitoes mars the tranquility of this idyllic spot amid the rolling forests and blue lakes of eastern Finland, on the European Union’s longest border with Russia. But Finnish authorities fear the peace and quiet of places like […]
(Reuters) Finland’s government proposed emergency legislation on Tuesday to block asylum seekers entering across its vast and often snow-bound border with Russia which it believes Moscow is promoting due to political antagonism since the Ukraine war. Finland shut the 1,340-km (830-mile) frontier […]
(Reuters) Finland will propose a law next week allowing border agents to block asylum seekers trying to enter from Russia, the prime minister said on Sunday, a decision that could cause Helsinki to temporarily breach its international commitments. Finland shut its border […]
(Yle) The Court of Appeal in Turku has ruled that police officers were justified in their actions when they forcibly removed hijab head coverings from two female asylum seekers during an incident at a police station in the city of Hämeenlinna in […]
(Yle) Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) on Sunday said there was no indication that Palestinian extremist group Hamas had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in Finland. Valtonen’s comments to Finnish news agency STT followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
(Local) Russian intelligence last year suggested staging Quran burnings, as well as mounting protests and spraying graffiti insulting Turkey’s president, as a way of delaying Turkey’s ratification [of] Sweden’s Nato bid, a Finnish documentary has claimed. The documentary cites the Dossier Center, […]
(Yle) Russia made plans to disrupt Finland and Sweden’s accession to joining Nato, according to a secret intelligence report obtained by an Yle MOT investigation. The report found that a Russian intelligence service planned to organise disruption campaigns disguised as demonstrations before […]
(Politico) A growing number of asylum seekers arriving on the EU’s eastern frontier is forcing Baltic countries to consider border closures with Russia, due to fears the Kremlin is weaponizing desperate people to create a migration crisis on the continent. Latvia, Lithuania […]
(AP) Finland said Tuesday it will close its last remaining border crossing with Russia amid concerns that Moscow is using migrants as part of “hybrid warfare” to destabilize the Nordic country following its entry into NATO. Finland already had shut seven of […]
(AP) When Finland joined NATO earlier this year, Russia threatened retaliation. Now, hundreds of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have appeared at Finland’s border from Russia, seeking entry into the Nordic country. Finnish officials say the sudden surge in asylum-seekers […]
(Yle) Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen (NCP) has said municipal [authorities] will try to close an unauthorised mosque operating in a Helsinki apartment building. Vartiainen told Yle on Monday that the city was looking to shut down the mosque and that those running […]
(Yle) The Finnish Foreign Ministry says it has no plans to try to repatriate the remaining Finnish children from the al-Hol refugee camp in northern Syria. A senior ministry official told Yle on Saturday that the primary reason is that the children’s […]
(Yle) A total of 26 Muslim groups and organisations in Finland have issued a joint statement condemning a blog comment written in 2019 by the country’s finance minister, Riikka Purra (Finns). Purra’s comment, in Finnish but translated here in English, stated: “There […]
(Yle) A group of Islamic communities and organisations in Finland have issued a joint statement calling on the government to take concrete steps towards achieving “zero tolerance” on racism. “We call on the Finnish government and especially Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) […]
(Yle) A Spanish national in his early 20s who lives in Finland was handed a four-month suspended sentence by Helsinki District Court after being found guilty of training to commit a terrorist crime. The court found that the man, who was placed […]
(Breitbart) Finnish police and domestic intelligence have arrested a 21-year-old suspected radical Islamic extremist who had procured materials on developing explosives to train to carry out a terrorist attack. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, the Helsinki police and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service were […]
(Yle) Some protesters planned to burn a Koran at an anti-Nato demonstration held in Helsink[i] last week, but then reconsidered after learning it would be against the law, according to city police. The Helsinki Police Department’s chief inspector, Heikki Porola, told Yle […]
(Yle) Police in Finland would not allow a public burning of the Koran, as has occurred recently in Sweden and Denmark, according to the National Police Board. Finnish law stipulates that violating religious peace is a punishable offence, the police board said […]
(Breitbart) A court in Finland began hearing a case of alleged illegal halal slaughter of up to 2,500 sheep this week, with prosecutors claiming the animals were slaughtered without being stunned beforehand in accordance with the law. The animal welfare trial began […]
(Yle) Relatives of Finnish children living in the Al-Hol displacement camp in northern Syria are investigating the possibility of receiving compensation from the Finnish government. The move comes after the UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) last week issued a severe reprimand to […]
(Yle) The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has reacted to Wednesday’s ruling against Finland by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The committee declared that Finland had violated the rights of Finnish children in northern Syria by not repatriating them […]
(Yle) Finland’s failure to repatriate Finnish children living in Syrian camps was a violation of children’s rights, according to a decision by the UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) published on Wednesday. The committee said its decision was based on a case filed […]
(Yle) The Kanta-Häme District Court has cleared a total of seven defendants — comprising police officers and security guards — of all charges in relation to an incident in which female asylum seekers claimed they were forced to remove their head coverings. […]
(Yle) Seven police and security guards of the Häme Police Department are facing charges for forcing female asylum seekers to remove their head coverings for registration photos. The indictment in the trial, which opened in the Kanta-Häme District Court on Wednesday, concerns […]
(Yle) The District Court of Southwest Finland sentenced Abderrahman Bouanane, the perpetrator of the 2017 Turku terror attack who was previously given life imprisonment for his actions, to five months in prison for two counts of violently resisting an official in the […]
(Yle) Abderrahman Bouanane, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the Turku terrorist attack in 2017, is facing charges of assaulting guards in a Turku prison. The indictment alleges that in October 2020, while carrying out his 12-15-year sentence, Bouanane took a […]
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