There has been a suspicion that the police use sedatives when deporting asylum seekers on flights. According to Markku Toivonen, a medical specialist, considers the use of sedatives unethical and even illegal, according to Iltalehti.
“The point here is if medication is given against [the person’s] will or whether there is consent,” Toivonen was quoted as saying. “In any case, from a physician’s point of view, if the person is not only bound but given medication [sedatives] on an airplane [by the police] it may be a violation of the law in such deportation cases.”
Read the full story (in Finnish) here, and in English here.
Migrant Tales published in January 2017 a story about the deportation of an Iraqi at Oulu airport. As the asylum seeker spoke and recorded his deportation on social media, a substance, possibly a sedative, sprayed inside the van. “And it smells bad,” the asylum seeker said.
If such cases are true, it reveals that there is too little scrutiny of the police in deportation cases.
This must change like Finland’s inhumane immigration and asylum policy towards non-EU citizens.