(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[detention] Sverre Pedersen, filmmaker and associate leader of the Norwegian Film Association, is very critical of how the immigration police have put obstacles in the way of his planned documentary on Norwegian asylum policy.
He has been working on a documentary film project since the Afghan asylum seekers carried out hunger strikes in front of the Storting over a year ago. His team has filmed large parts of the asylum march from Trondheim to Oslo. However, when 21 of the Afghans was transported to the Trandum Immigration Board after the deportation decision, the documentary director encountered problems.
- I had first received permission from the immigration police to come and talk to the Afghans and film at Trandum on 22 June. But when I was there to film, it turned out that eleven of the Afghans were in court. I therefore asked the police at Trandum if I could come back the next day to do the rest of the recordings, Pedersen says.
The police expressed that it was safe, only he sent a written request for this. The next morning, however, he was told that it could not be done because the police lacked capacity. Pedersen nevertheless went to Trandum to visit two of the interned Afghans, an agreement he and Inger Ellen Kolbjørnsen from the support network had in addition to the filming.
- When Inger Ellen Kolbjørnsen and I got there, we were told that we were not allowed to visit the two internees either. Again, the reason was a lack of capacity, says Pedersen.
He called the parliamentary representative Ågot Valle (SV) and asked her to help them by calling Justice Minister Knut Storberget (Ap), without any help.
- We stood for four hours and waited. At the same time, we saw that other visitors were allowed in, apparently without the police having capacity problems with it, Pedersen says.
In the coming weeks, the filmmaker repeatedly tried to get permission to continue filming on Trandum. Each time he received a polite no. The reasoning each time was capacity problems. Finally, 20 of the Afghans were expelled from Norway. The latter was deferred due to tuberculosis.
- I complained all the way and argued that they hindered freedom of expression by not allowing filming. There's a hysteria out there at Trandum. One day I filmed the internment camp from outside, the police came and scolded me, even though this is actually a public place. But the conditions at Trandum are still highly reprehensible. The place should be closed, Pedersen believes.
He has now complained to the Ministry of Justice about the police's obstruction of filming.
- I have received two letters that my complaint is being processed. I will pursue this politically. It is the politicians who must ensure that the media and filmmakers can do their job, and that freedom of expression is respected, says the union leader in the Norwegian Film Association.
