…the story of a Syrian Refugee Family In Northern Sweden with Five Children in LVU
(The details and legal documents are being verified as of the 23/March)
The video of a man screaming in front of the social services offices and a mother screaming as her baby was being snatched by police went viral.
The relief of Syrian refugee, Diab Talal, and his family after arriving in Sweden, the “land of dreams” in search of “safety” and escaping the hell of war in Syria didn’t last long: He soon would suffer more severely than all that he suffered in his home country Syria! Little did he know that that Swedish authorities would soon claim all his children, even the fetus inside his wife’s womb!
Syrian Diab Talal (38 years old) and his wife Amal Sheikho are immigrants from Syria, living in Northern Sweden. The Swedish Social Services decided to withdraw all their five children including their new-born baby because they consider the couple unfit to raise children.
Diab sums up his family’s suffering by saying, “ I wish I had stayed with my family under the bombardment of the barrel bombs and not came to Sweden, because I have not seen a happy day since I arrived here! What I am currently experiencing is a real nightmare that I cannot see the end to.”
Background
The story of Diab Talal and his family began when they left Syria to escape the war. They left for Lebanon, after Diab was injured in the hand in the bombing of his home in the Aleppo Region.
They then went from Lebanon to Sweden as part of the United Nations resettlement program.
Diab is the father of five children: Qusai (9 years old), Duha (7 years old), Wafaa (5 years old), Rahaf (3 years old) and Mohammed, an infant who is less than a year old.
How Social Services got involved
Diab said: “In the first month of 2017, I arrived with my family in the city of Kals in Norrbotten county, in northern Sweden”
He added, “in the first eight months of our arrival in Sweden, my wife and I became depressed. We were newcomers in this country, and we did not know how to communicate with the Swedes, especially since we are illiterate. We live in a city in northern Sweden where the temperatures reach less than forty below zero in the winter and it is dark for many hours.” A far cry from the warmth, light and community-centred life they had led before.
Diab continued, “One day, one of our neighbors saw my wife, Amal, crying in the common laundry room. She called Social services office with the worry. Social Services followed up the issue and investigated the children at the school to see if they had been beaten or not. Then one of my children told them that my mother had beaten me.”
After four days, all the family members were summoned to the social services office to interrogate us. They put the children in the playroom.
The Syrian refugee said, “We refused that at first, and I told them that my wife suffers from a slight depression and was crying because she is far from her family and feels alienated. This is normal because we live in an area in northern Sweden inhabited by only a few people, and we do not communicate with anyone. We feel alienation and long for our parents.”
Diab continued, “they did not listen to us and put all the children in the protection house in a remote area surrounded by sniffer dogs, and only my wife accompanied them.”
“At that time, I could not communicate with my wife and children.” He says, “The children were then going to school, and the social services employees kept telling my wife that the children might or might not come back. This made her live in a state of anxiety, especially with the added isolation.”
The Syrian refugee continued, “after 6 weeks, we were given a lawyer to defend us in court, and the police investigated us. They could not prove any violence directed against children, and even the hospital could not find any signs of abuse on the children’s bodies.”
Court
According to Diab, the case went to court three months later, where Social services claimed that Amal suffers from stress and depression, and therefore is not qualified to raise children.
Diab denies this and says “My wife visited a psychiatrist who confirmed that she does not suffer from any psychological problems.”
Visitation
After court the couple were allowed to see the children for a single hour once a month.
The Syrian refugee pointed out that “during one of our visits with the children, and as the visit was ending, the children started screaming and crying. They were heartbroken when we said our goodbyes. The social services considered that as an indicator that the children were afraid of us!”
“The children have handed over to several Swedish families for their care, and since that day, that is, more than three years ago, we are forbidden to see the children,”- according to the father, “We see them through non-colored paper images sent to us by social services.”
The stolen baby
Diab and Amal’s suffering did not end there!
We asked what happened with their fifth child, the newly born Muhammad?
And he said, “Three years after the children were withdrawn, my wife got pregnant, so we informed social services and we asked them to enroll us in a qualification course to learn how to raise a child, to show them that we are cooperating. By this time we have already undergone a course (a signs of safety and education for the child). They gave us a sum of money and we bought a stroller for the next child”
However, their joy for their new baby was short-lived: “Five minutes after the baby was born, while he was still on the scales, “Sociale” employees came and took him. They did not even allow his mother to see him. They did not allow her to breastfeed him. They told us this is so that he would accept other milk.”
Diab carried on telling their story, “My wife started screaming and crying over her newborn, but they did not give it to her, and then she collapsed and fainted. At that moment, I tried to enter my wife’s room in the hospital, breaking the lock on the door as I did, to calm her down and found her completely collapsed. Then the police came and gave me the choice between going to prison or for us to go home. A few days later, I received a fine of 7,500 crowns to pay for the lock I broke.”
About four months after the baby was taken, the “Sociale” allowed his parents to see him. The child was crying during their visit because he was obviously hungry. The nurse did not give the milk during the visitation. In frustration over the whole situation the parents cried.
After that, the case of the Baby Muhammed was referred to the court, which decided that since the child sees his parents crying, they should not see him, according to Diab.
He adds that the Swedish family raising our baby boy changed his name from Muhammad to “Muhammad Andreas”.
Abortion or we’ll take your baby
The Syrian refugee continues to talk about the suffering of his family, which did not stop at placing of five of his children, one of whom is an infant, outside their home, their family!
Following on, the case got to the point of informing Diab and Amal that any new child will be removed from their care.
Diab said, eight months after the birth of my child Muhammad, my wife got pregnant. “When the “Sociale” learned of this from the hospital, they asked us to abort the fetus because there was a lack of Swedish families to receive this child.”
He added, “I told the “Sociale employees, “We are the child’s parents and we want to raise him and we want his siblings back as well. We will not give up until everyone returns to our embrace.”
A few days ago, “Social” told Diab that they had found a Swedish family willing to accept the child who was still in his mother’s womb. They also asked the wife not to leave the country until after informing the municipality, according to the Syrian refugee’s account.
Diab continues his speech, “After four years of suffering, crying and demands to return our children, we did not get anything. They told us that we will not see the children until they reach the age of 18 and the possibility of extending the custody period to 21 years.”
Diab added that “Sociale employees also told us that whenever we have a child, it will be taken and we will not be allowed to raise it even if the wife married another husband or the husband married another wife.”
According to Diab, the children are separated: three Swedish families take care of his children, the little girl with Downs syndrome is alone in a family, and the remaining four are two with each family.
The Syrian refugee says that the Swedish family raising their little girl with Downs Syndrome requested that they allow her to get a passport for the girl, so that she could travel with them to Thailand. As he remains legal guardian of the child, he refused to allow this several times. However, the family was able to circumvent the law and obtained a passport for the girl.
Diab explained that he submitted an appeal a few days ago in court and is currently awaiting a response.
….So, dear readers, when you see the images of an Arab man and woman acting “crazy” by Western standards, have some compassion and consider how you would be after escaping war to face tyranny in a democratic country!