Hassan Blasim says he wants to stop writing about violence 'but the violence does not stop in Iraq'. Photo: Katja Bohm
Hassan Blasim says he wants to stop writing about violence 'but the violence does not stop in Iraq'. Photo: Katja Bohm
Hassan Blasim says he wants to stop writing about violence 'but the violence does not stop in Iraq'. Photo: Katja Bohm
Hassan Blasim says he wants to stop writing about violence 'but the violence does not stop in Iraq'. Photo: Katja Bohm

'Caught between two fires': How Hassan Blasim's four-year odyssey from Iraq to Finland haunts his new book


Lemma Shehadi
  • English
  • Arabic

When Helsinki-based writer Hassan Blasim follows the heated debates around migration, he is reminded of a journey he would rather forget. For more than four years, he trekked across the Iraqi-Kurdish mountains into Iran, then Turkey, working the black markets so that he could pay smugglers to make it across the next border and into Europe.

"I've seen the road, how terrible it is and how savage it is. I see all the double standards in the West," Blasim told The National.

He lost a finger on the way, and remembers the brutality of the border police when he reached Europe. “You don't see how the Eastern European armies behave with people across the border,” he said. The treatment he received there, Blasim said, amounted to torture. He did not go into the details.

Today, the policies to crack down on smuggling gangs and tighten Europe’s borders revive memories of those perilous crossings he made 20 years ago.

And growing hostility towards migrants in Helsinki, Finland – mirroring developments across Europe – is making the city in which he sought refuge feel less safe. “The discrimination has always been there, it rises and falls depending on the politics,” Blasim said.

Sololand is Hassan Blasim's latest collection of short stories. Photo: Comma Press
Sololand is Hassan Blasim's latest collection of short stories. Photo: Comma Press

These are themes the award-winning author addresses in his latest collection of short stories, Sololand, which will be published in English translation by Comma Press this month.

The Law of Sololand tells the story of a refugee and his encounters with a Neo-Nazi ring in a remote Scandinavian town, while Elias in the Land of ISIS is told from the perspective of an ISIS prisoner in Mosul.

The collection’s last story, Bulbul, which means nightingale in Arabic, addresses the Tishreen movement in Iraq, where young people took to the streets demanding better job opportunities and services. The demonstrations also called for an end to the sectarian power-sharing arrangement that emerged in the post-Saddam era.

“Before ISIS I wrote about violence in Iraq, I wrote about violence from the dictator. I want to stop writing about violence, but the violence does not stop in Iraq,” Blasim said.

He has not been back to Baghdad since leaving in 1998, but when the protests broke out in 2019, he travelled to Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi-Kurdistan to join a group of people who were supporting the movement happening in the capital and Iraq’s southern cities.

“I thought something might change, now, with a young generation leading, maybe there is going to be free speech,” he said.

Among Blasim's roles was to put out statements and announcements, particularly in moments of internet blackouts. But he is bitterly disappointed by the crackdown that ensued, with hundreds of young activists killed by Iranian-backed militias that were given free rein.

Video: Kurdistan smugglers bring death to the shores of Europe

Blasim became the first Arabic writer to win The Independent’s Foreign Fiction Prize in 2014, for his collection of short stories, The Iraqi Christ. His first collection, The Madman of Freedom Square, appeared in English translation in 2009.

He continues to write and publish in Arabic but he laments what he sees as the decline in Arabic fiction – for which he blames the states and publishing houses. With writers being constrained by what they can say, fiction was limited and readers were turning elsewhere.

“Most Arabic people will read books in translation because they find more freedom inside the novel, or they watch Netflix,” he said. "There is nothing [political] in Arabic literature. Our language is empty. It's not fighting. It's a literature that has surrendered."

Hassan Blasim returned to Sulaymaniyah in 2019, where he had sought refuge from Saddam’s Baghdad 20 years earlier
Hassan Blasim returned to Sulaymaniyah in 2019, where he had sought refuge from Saddam’s Baghdad 20 years earlier

Blasim was born in Baghdad in 1973 but during the Iran-Iraq war moved to Kirkuk, where his father worked with the army to protect oilfields. "We lived under the atmosphere of war and the militarisation of society imposed by the dictator’s regime," he recalled.

War was everywhere, with the perpetual ringing of air raid sirens from Iranian air strikes, and what felt like daily runs to the nearest bomb shelter. "At school, we used to chant songs glorifying Saddam and the war, and we would draw tanks and soldiers in our notebooks," he said. "The regime also carried out public executions of army deserters in front of crowds, and I personally witnessed executions while still in elementary school."

Despite the war, living conditions in Iraq were still high from the economic boom of the 1970s, he recalled. His love of writing came from the large library he had at home, and he and his brother's subscriptions to literary magazines. During the summer holidays, he would go to the city's science centre, where he learnt about electronics, physics, aviation and, crucially, cinema projectors.

Blasim's father passed away at the end of the war in 1988, and the family returned to Baghdad two years later. He enrolled at Baghdad's Academy of Fine Arts to study cinema, after a friend of his, a poet, advised it would be the best way for Blasim to pursue his love of writing. "It would enhance my knowledge and expand my imagination … he was right."

While a film student in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, Blasim was repeatedly harassed by his professors and the Baath regime’s sprawling security services.

His brother had been detained without charge or trial for political reasons, which made Blasim a natural target for persecution. His student film about the life of a poor man in Baghdad sparked their ire. “It was just a student film,” he said of it, dismissively. The family spent two years without knowing the brother's whereabouts, and when he was finally released he told them he had been transferred from prison to prison across Iraq, and repeatedly tortured.

Hassan Blasim directing The Wounded Camera while living as a refugee in Sulaymaniyah in the late 1990s
Hassan Blasim directing The Wounded Camera while living as a refugee in Sulaymaniyah in the late 1990s

Like many young men of his generation, Blasim fled to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which had achieved autonomy in the 1990s after Saddam’s horrific massacres and chemical attacks on the Kurds. The region was then harbouring Iraqi dissidents from across southern Iraq seeking refuge.

He gave himself a Kurdish name, Ouazad Othman, which means “free man”, concealing his identity to protect his family back in Baghdad from Saddam’s informants. His feature film The Wounded Camera was about the Kurdish uprisings against Saddam.

It was shot using VHS home video tapes, owing to an embargo on Iraq that had drained resources. Although he speaks with great pride about the film, he has not seen it since it was made, and he believes it is still held in an archive in Sulaymaniyah.

When civil war gripped the Kurdistan region, he fled once again, into the mountains to Europe. He arrived in Finland in 2004, where he now lives with his partner and son.

Blasim insists he does not want the book to "teach" readers anything. "I don't write to make people learn. I write to enjoy it. Literature is a kind of knowledge but literature is not a lesson," he said.

Hassan Blasim in a refugee camp in Hungary in 2002.
Hassan Blasim in a refugee camp in Hungary in 2002.

He worries that Iraqi refugees today have no good options. “You are between two fires. You run away from ISIS and you come here to racism,” he said. But he is also shocked by the declining living standards closer to home in Helsinki.

In the city's poorest districts, people have little time for books, theatre or cinema. "When people try to survive day by day, they don't think about books. Even in Finland, where you have the best education, in the poor areas they don't read," Blasim said.

The speech from Europe's growing far-right has worrying reminders of life under autocratic rule. "They talk about immigrants, immigrants, immigrants. When you make people scared and worried all the time, it's easy to control them." he said.

While he says he still "trusts in European society", the divisive forces of politics are so overwhelming that he is left feeling powerless. "You can't do anything. You just wait," he said.

In 2019, Hassan Blasim returned to the house in Sulaymaniyah where had made the film The Wounded Camera 20 years ago.
In 2019, Hassan Blasim returned to the house in Sulaymaniyah where had made the film The Wounded Camera 20 years ago.
Countries recognising Palestine

France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra

 

Teenage%20Mutant%20Ninja%20Turtles%3A%20Shredder's%20Revenge
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETribute%20Games%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dotemu%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20One%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

Uefa Nations League

League A, Group 4
Spain v England, 10.45pm (UAE)

The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.0%20twin-turbo%20inline%20six-cylinder%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeight-speed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E503hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E600Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh450%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

MATCH DETAILS

Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90 6)

Genoa 1 (Kouame 40)

Ruwais timeline

1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established

1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants

1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed

1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.  

1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex

2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea

2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd

2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens

2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies

2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export

2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.

2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery 

2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital

2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13

Source: The National

Results

6.30pm Madjani Stakes Rated Conditions (PA) I Dh160,000 1,900m I Winner: Mawahib, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

7.05pm Maiden Dh150,000 1,400m I Winner One Season, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar

7.40pm: Maiden Dh150,000 2,000m I Winner Street Of Dreams, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

8.15pm Dubai Creek Listed Dh250,000 1,600m I Winner Heavy Metal, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

8.50pm The Entisar Listed Dh250,000 2,000m I Winner Etijaah, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson

9.25pm The Garhoud Listed Dh250,000 1,200m Winner Muarrab, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

10pm Handicap Dh160,000 1,600m Winner Sea Skimmer, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi

Second ODI

England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)

England win by 86 runs

Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley 

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)

Engine 5.2-litre V10

Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch

Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm

Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est) 

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, last-16, second leg (first-leg scores in brackets):

PSG (2) v Manchester United (0)

Midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports

TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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Bangladesh tour of Pakistan

January 24 – First T20, Lahore

January 25 – Second T20, Lahore

January 27 – Third T20, Lahore

February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi

April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi

April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi

MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')

Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')

Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

About Proto21

Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group

2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
  • Parasite – 4
  • 1917– 3
  • Ford v Ferrari – 2
  • Joker – 2
  • Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – 2
  • American Factory – 1
  • Bombshell – 1
  • Hair Love – 1
  • Jojo Rabbit – 1
  • Judy – 1
  • Little Women – 1
  • Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) – 1
  • Marriage Story – 1
  • Rocketman – 1
  • The Neighbors' Window – 1
  • Toy Story 4 – 1
TOUCH RULES

Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.

Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.

Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.

A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.

After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.

At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.

A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.

Company%20profile%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYodawy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKarim%20Khashaba%2C%20Sherief%20El-Feky%20and%20Yasser%20AbdelGawad%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2424.5%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlgebra%20Ventures%2C%20Global%20Ventures%2C%20MEVP%20and%20Delivery%20Hero%20Ventures%2C%20among%20others%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20500%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

Coffee: black death or elixir of life?

It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?

Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.

The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.

Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver. 

The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.

But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.

Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.

It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.

So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.

Rory Reynolds

Need to know

When: October 17 until November 10

Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration

Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center

What: The Korea Festival will feature art exhibitions, a B-boy dance show, a mini K-pop concert, traditional dance and music performances, food tastings, a beauty seminar, and more.

For more information: www.koreafestivaluae.com

Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars

Fifa%20World%20Cup%20Qatar%202022%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFirst%20match%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2020%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinal%2016%20round%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%203%20to%206%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EQuarter-finals%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%209%20and%2010%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESemi-finals%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%2013%20and%2014%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinal%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDecember%2018%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The story in numbers

18

This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens

450,000

More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps

1.5 million

There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m

73

The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association

18,000

The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme

77,400

The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study

4,926

This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee

UK%20record%20temperature
%3Cp%3E38.7C%20(101.7F)%20set%20in%20Cambridge%20in%202019%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Alnamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMicrofinance%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFamily%20offices%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')

Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)

EA Sports FC 26

Publisher: EA Sports

Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S

Rating: 3/5

What are the influencer academy modules?
  1. Mastery of audio-visual content creation. 
  2. Cinematography, shots and movement.
  3. All aspects of post-production.
  4. Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
  5. Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
  6. Tourism industry knowledge.
  7. Professional ethics.
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Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Updated: March 29, 2025, 5:44 PM`