Tim King Salem-News.com
The men were deported by Norway under the United Nations 'Chicago Treaty'.
 From left: Flash- Spokane, Bob- Seattle, Rosco- Seattle, Tom- Salem, Tattoo Mike- Salem, Two Weeks- Spokane. |
(SALEM) - Six Americans traveling to Norway for a five-day vacation were immediately taken into custody after landing at the Stavanger airport last week. The men from Oregon and Washington, spent several days in custody, never learning until the end what they were being held for, or how long officials intended to jail them.
"I was kidnapped and terrorized by another country," Mike Kondash of Salem, Oregon said. This honorably discharged U.S. Navy Veteran recalls the first Norway Customs officer at the airport saying, "We don't want you in our country."
One of three U.S. Veterans in this group, Kondash says he also heard statements from Norwegian officials that he and the others, who have traveled to Norway in the past, were "undesirable" and that they could "pose a threat".
An attorney was provided the same day that the six, all present and past members of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club, were arrested at the airport. After talking to officials, the attorney said, "Some of you have criminal records and some of you don't, but they believe there is a chance that you might do something wrong here."
Yet the lawyer also said it was unclear exactly why they were in custody, Kondash explains.
"60 hours in a eight by eleven cell with no information of any kind, wondering why I was in custody. They took everything but my underwear."
It is not editorializing to state that media and police frequently, even routinely, describe motorcycle club members as criminals without justification. Hollywood piles on the idea and Americans are programmed accordingly. However Mike Kondash, like many others in the biker community, has no criminal past at all beyond traffic tickets, and he is a local business owner.
One of the men taken into custody has a substantial hearing problem. Kondash says the jailers in Stavanger did not determine that the man had a hearing disability, and he went long periods without eating because he didn't respond to impatient guards when his name was called to receive food.
Kondash says they were not allowed to see a U.S. consulate, and they were denied rights that were provided under Norwegian law.
"Well you can't have these"
In the end, the officials made at least one revealing mistake.
The Norwegian government purchased tickets for the men and sent them back to the U.S. after their release. Instructions for the airline pilot on each of the 'deported' passengers somehow ended up in the passenger's belongings.
A U.S. Customs official removed the documents from Kondash's property, noting that the two pages of instructions for the pilot stated, 'Do not give to any unauthorized personnel'.
"Well you can't have these," the official told Kondash.
As it turns out though, the six passengers were checked by different Customs agents upon returning to Seattle, and all were not as thorough as the one who checked Kondash. Three sets of those same documents were left in the possession of the Americans.
The information regarding the six Americans was essentially the same. It is a two page set of instructions, and on the second page is a series of boxes describing the reason a person is being deported. In the case of the six bikers, they each had four boxes checked.
These are the four boxes checked under the category 'Unescorted deportees (depu) svg-osl-nyc'
- Deported to Norway according to the Chicago Treaty.
- Expelled due to lack of residence permit.
- Not convicted of a crime in this country.
- The police consider this person to be stable, and that he poses no threat to himself or others.
Those are the descriptions of six Americans who were allowed to fly all the way to Norway in good faith, and rejected at the airport gate.
They were all held in custody in Stavanger, which is about an hour's drive from Oslo. Kondash has discovered that their club is not the only one that has been singled out in this respect and denied entry. He says the men believe their rights were sharply violated and question what message Norway is sending.
I have been studying the Chicago Convention referenced in the pilot's instructions that the men were fortunately able to keep. Also known as the Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO), the Chicago Convention is according to Wikipedia:
| “ | ...a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel. The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel. | ” |
Conclusion
In reviewing this treaty, it appears to have little to do with a government's right to reject a person who legally visits another country, and far more to do with airplane and airport safety. (see: Convention on International Civil Aviation)
While they are all safe and sound now, the experience was not a pleasant one for Kondash and the five other men. He says the food was minimal and unfit to eat, and he remains shocked that a country that only a few months ago received and treated him with respect and dignity, would for no definable reason arrest he and the others while maintaining an air of secrecy, and denying clearly stated rights like the ability to a place a phone call, and to receive food.
I intend to review this case more extensively and also consult an international lawyer on our team, to gain the best possible understanding of what circumstances Norway believes grant a legal right to jail, hold without charges, and deport six Americans in this manner.