In Greece, Afghan refugee who attempted suicide given sentence

BY|infomigrants

In Greece, an Afghan asylum seeker who tried to kill herself by setting herself on fire two years ago has received a 15-month sentence, suspended for three years.

M.M., an Afghan asylum seeker, was sentenced by a Lesbos court on Wednesday (February 8) to 15 months with three years’ suspension.

The sentence comes nearly two years after she was charged with aggravated arson and destruction of public property, facing a possible sentence of ten years.

In February, 2021, M.M. was eight months pregnant with her fourth child and was living with her family in a tent in the Karatepe migrant camp on Lesbos, waiting to be transferred to Germany.

Desperate to leave the camp and struggling with suicidal thoughts, she set fire to her tent with a lighter, having left the children in the care of her neighbors, and lay down in the middle.
Other residents of the camp put out the fire and rescued M.M. from the burning tent. She survived with serious burns and was charged by Greek police.

Borderline Europe, an independent NGO working in Lesbos since 2015, said it was “the most incredible humiliating criminalization case we have ever heard of.”

Appeal
While this week’s court decision means the 29-year-old will not be jailed, HIAS, a non-profit organization that took on M.M.’s case, has appealed, saying the sentence was “unfair and extremely concerning.”

“(We) will keep on fighting so that common sense prevails!,” HIAS tweeted.

No Border Kitchen, another group supporting migrants on Lesbos, posted a picture showing messages of solidarity for M.M.

Human rights groups, representatives of the UN and the EU have expressed concern about the increasing criminalization of migrants.

In January, a Somali migrant, Mohammad Hanad Abdi, who had been sentenced to 142 years, was released following an appeal. He had been jailed for steering a dinghy after it was abandoned by a Turkish smuggler. Two people drowned during the crossing to Greece.

Thousands more migrants are currently in Greek prisons after being charged or convicted for driving boats or other offences related to facilitating the entry or stay of migrants.