‘I was prosecuted for helping Syrian refugees.’

Lately, I read very interesting article. In ‘I was prosecuted for helping Syrian refugees.’, Lisbeth Zoring Andersen describes her own story about helping Syrian refugees and the problems which it caused.

At the beginning of the article Lisbeth recounts her childhood and the rules which she learned as a child, for example that everyone should help others. She came from a dysfunctional family but she was very smart. Luckily, she met Karen, who helped her excel in school and achieve a lot in life.

The main thread of  the article were the problems she faced after helping Syrian refugees who wanted to start a new life in Sweden. Lisbeth gave them a lift and together with her husband encouraged other Danes to help the people in need. From that moment on their life changed dramatically. Although when she had asked them, the police had not informed her that it was illegal to give refugees a lift, she was later charged with people-smuggling. The public started to detest her. Immediately, the Danish court stated that she had committed a crime and her case attracted a lot of attention of the international press.

She believes that it is normal to help another person and it does not make anyone a smuggler. In her opinion it is necesary to start talking about the current situation in Syria.