The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (Keskusrikospoliisi, in Finnish) has provided new information about the case of the Iraqi woman who brought Finland to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to police information, forged documents were submitted not only to the European Justice, but also to the Finnish court that assessed the case.
The woman achieved that the European court ruled in November 2019 that Finland violated articles 2 and 3 of the Human Rights Convention regarding the case of her father Ali, an alleged former officer in Saddam Hussein's army. His demand for international protection was rejected by Migri and he was returned to Iraq in November 2017.
According to the plaintiff's account, her father had died in December 2017, one month after being returned to his country of origin. The case caused great concern in Finland and the Government even temporarily suspended deportations of Iraqis whose residence permit applications had been rejected.
However, the National Bureau of Investigation assures that they have gathered enough evidence to prove that the documents presented by the plaintiff are forged and the alleged victim is still alive in Iraq. Based on these investigations, two people have been arrested to date, one of them is the daughter of the alleged victim.
Now, based on the preliminary investigation, Finnish police suspect that forged documents were also submitted to the Helsinki Administrative Court in late 2017. The case is being investigated as a case of aggravated fraud.
Three suspects
There are three suspects in this case. One of them is the woman born in 1996 (around 24 years old) who brought the case to the ECHR and another is a man born in 1984. Both them have been arrested in connection with the case. The woman has been already released from pre-trial detention, but the man remains still in custody.
The third suspect is a man born in 1974 who is still in Iraq, according to a press release by the National Bureau of Investigation.
The investigation began on suspicion that the ECHR had been provided with false information about the case. "A preliminary investigation has revealed that the documents relating to the death are forged and the man is still alive," the police stressed in the press release.
