The Joys of Diversity & Cultural Enrichment (XIII)

Which Western country is getting the most out of its immigration policy? Today's contenders are Sweden, France and the U.S.

1) Sweden

Ahmed Ibrahim Ali, an immigrant who lived in the Husby area of Stockholm, was stabbed to death last year in a fight near the E4 motorway. Two of his friends were very seriously injured in the same attack.

An eighteen year old Somali and two other suspects, aged sixteen and twenty, were arrested and tried. The trial ended in an acquittal, because the judge was convinced that the confession of the eighteen year old Somali was fabricated to protect someone else.

The prosecution immediately appealed the decision, and on Tuesday it was decided that the main suspect could be brought to an appeal hearing. One problem - when a bench warrant was issued, it emerged that the man in question had fled - back to Somalia, the land he was seeking asylum from in Sweden:

“I have received confirmation from his father that he is in Somalia and plans to be there for the foreseeable future,” said attorney Johan Åkermark to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

“My understanding is that the family wanted him to get out of Rinkeby and Sweden,” said attorney Åkermark to SvD, referring to the neighbourhood near Stockholm which is home to many Somali and other immigrants.

“He was talking about leaving a long time ago.”

Åkermark added that the chances were small of his client returning to Sweden for any appeal hearing planned for the autumn.

“As far as I know, there is no functioning rule of law [in Somalia], so I don’t think it’s possible to have him extradited. In addition, no one knows exactly where he is,” he told SvD.

Ah, that's alright then. However, if he'd never been allowed to stay in Sweden in the first place, the victim would still be alive.

2) France

An extract taken from an article in the Brussels Journal about gang violence among young people in France:

Public gang warfare in France erupted in earnest during the Sarkozy era. Since late 2007, gangs from all over Paris regularly meet up for fights in underground, bus and train stations. One and a half years later this sort of violence has become routine.

Most of the gang members are young men of North African origin, but some of the most aggressive fighters are girls.

The French police say violence by teenage girls has increased by 140% since 2002. Last April, two gangs made up exclusively of girls between 14 and 17 years old fought a battle at the Chelles bus station, east of Paris.

“They had knives, screwdrivers, sticks and teargas and they were really going for each other,” a policewoman said. “There must have been about 100 of them. If we hadn’t intervened quickly, it would have ended in a bloodbath.”

3) United States

A Sioux Falls man accused of raping and beating his girlfriend to death last month became enraged when she admitted she had “slept with another man,” according to documents filed in the case.

Michaele Ashko Shimayil, 27, was arraigned Monday on 10 charges, including murder and rape, in connection with the April 30 attack on Bakita Mohamed. He pleaded not guilty to all charges but will finish his arraignment hearing later this week because of complications with finding a proper interpreter.

Shimayil speaks an African dialect, but police are uncertain of his country of origin. Monday’s proceedings lasted about 40 minutes before public defender Jeff Larson and Judge Stuart Tiede determined that a more effective interpreter was needed.

Shimayil apparently confessed to raping and beating Mohamed with a PVC pipe. “He said he was upset because (Mohamed) had told him that she had ’slept’ with another man,” according to court documents filed in the case.

When Sioux Falls police entered the apartment that Mohamed shared with Shimayil at 2901 E. Sixth St., they found her blood on the walls and floors throughout the home, before finding her beaten and unconscious in her bed.

“During the interview, (Shimayil) confessed to striking Mohamed repeatedly with the PVC pipe and punching her repeatedly with his hands,” according to an affidavit to support the search of Mohamed’s home.

Officers found Mohamed’s nearly nude body in a bedroom with “obvious injuries to her head and hands,” according to court documents. At the hospital, “numerous traumatic” injuries were found on Mohamed’s body, including cuts and bleeding from her skull, brain, lungs, liver and kidneys, according to court records.

Mohamed, 24, was from the East African country of Eritrea. She died Wednesday and was never interviewed by investigators, police spokesman Sam Clemens said. “She was unconscious when we found her, and she remained unconscious until the day she died,” he said.

Police officers initially were sent to 5001 E. 26th St. about 11:25 a.m. the day of the beating when a Sioux Falls Transit bus driver saw a man, later identified as Marko Haile Shomay, being assaulted by Shimayil. Shomay told officers that he had been punched repeatedly by Shimayil and accused of talking to Shimayil’s girlfriend, according to court documents.

Shimayil wasn’t at the scene when officers arrived, but he drove by later. He was stopped by police and arrested for the assault and drunken driving.