18 Years Illegal in Sweden - Swedish Radio Buried the Key Fact

KRISTIANSTAD - Swedish Radio ran two reports about a father of five deported to Somalia and torn from his children. What listeners heard far less about: he spent 18 years in Sweden without ever having a residence permit.

Confronted by Samnytt, the reporter defends the coverage. But she concedes the two reports together may have been slanted - and turns her fire on how her own station builds its news.

The local station P4 Kristianstad first presented Zakariya Ali as a worried father. "Forced deportations to Somalia are rising. Father of five Zakariya Ali has been deported from Sweden and wonders if he will ever see his children again," the report opened.

Listeners were told he was being held at the Swedish Migration Agency's detention centre in Åstorp, that he feared for his children and that he would be flown to Somalia on a chartered plane.

Only later, and in a brief clip, came the background. Ali had been refused residence permits several times because he could not prove his identity.

According to the agency, he said little during its investigations and gave contradictory information - including about which clan he belongs to.

Never had a permit

The key fact came near the end, from the agency's unit head Johnny Risberg.

"He has never had a residence permit in Sweden, and knowing that, he has also had children during these 18 years and put himself in this situation," Risberg said.

So the fact was there. Swedish Radio never claimed Ali had a right to stay. But the 18 years were not part of the reporter's own framing of the case - they surfaced late, through the agency's spokesman.

Right after Risberg's remark, the focus swung back to the children. "In this case the children did not choose to have a father without a residence permit," reporter Andrea Pettersson said, before asking when their rights would be taken into account.

The agency replied that children's rights are always weighed in, but in this case they were not enough to grant Ali a permit.

"I can take that to my editor"

Samnytt asked Pettersson why the 18 years were not made clearer when she presented the case.

"The information is in the report," she said.

It was not in the written web story, however. Nor was it mentioned in her follow-up report featuring the charity Save the Children. Pettersson said the charity's lawyer spoke about children in general, not about Ali's case.

She stressed that the deportation itself was lawful. "No mistake has been made. He got a deportation order, and both the Migration Agency and the migration court found he has no right to be in Sweden."

The short web text is meant to draw listeners, she explained, and does not carry everything in the audio. "But I can take that to my editor, that it needs to be clear there too."

Save the Children: "Deport as many as possible"

The follow-up put the children even more firmly at the centre. "Children's rights have to give way to regulated immigration," Pettersson opened.

Karin Sjömilla, a children's rights lawyer at Save the Children, described how losing a parent can hurt a child's schooling and mental and physical health. Ali was once again the example.

"It is about having a very restrictive migration policy where few are allowed to stay and you want to deport as many as possible. Then those principles weigh more heavily than the child rights perspective in very many cases," Sjömilla said.

No counter-question about Ali's 18 years without a permit was asked. The fact did not appear in the follow-up at all.

Pettersson told Samnytt that the first report explained why he had stayed so long: Sweden was largely unable to deport people to Somalia until the recent agreement with Mogadishu.

She also pointed to the limits of radio. "These are really good comments, and we struggle to fit in as much as possible in these two minutes."

"I tried to give the Migration Agency as much space as possible in the report, precisely to explain. So that side would be seen too. I thought it was clear that he has no right to be in Sweden and that is why he is being deported." - Andrea Pettersson, Swedish Radio

Asked whether listeners could come away thinking the family's separation was mainly the result of a tougher migration policy rather than Ali's own history, she said Save the Children's role was to raise the children's perspective.

"Children have rights regardless of whether their parents have made bad choices. And you could say Zakariya has."

"Problematic that we always need a case"

During the interview Pettersson turned to how P4 works. The local stations, she said, are expected to build stories around a "case" - one person who shows what a decision or social change means in real life.

"I think it is a difficulty, because I work at P4 and our job is to highlight individuals."

Then she went further. "I personally think it is problematic that you always have to have a case. Because then it becomes what you picked up on - that we are supposed to portray his life from Zakariya's point of view. I think that is a problem with P4."

Asked whether she had been instructed to work that way, she said: "At P4 in particular we work with cases. At Ekot you can do a news story without it having to be about a person. Very often we have to attach a person and show what difference this decision or change makes in someone's life."

Ekot is Swedish Radio's national news service. "I think our news becomes flatter and less nuanced when we have to do that," Pettersson said.

She added that it is not her job to judge Ali's personal responsibility. "I cannot have an opinion on whether Zakariya's responsibility is this or that. I have tried to show the situation he feels he is in."

"Maybe it becomes slanted"

Samnytt put it to her that the two reports together clearly suggest the deportation was wrong - especially with Save the Children saying so outright.

"I think the report made it as clear as possible that no mistake was made in his deportation decision," she said.

But on the combined effect of the two reports, she opened the door to the criticism.

"I will take this point about Save the Children with me. That when you put them together, maybe it becomes a bit slanted. It is great that you got in touch."