Freelance journalist Nuri Kino's reports on "Little Iraq", published in Metro both in Sweden and abroad, quickly received a lot of attention by international media. This placed the Swedish town Södertälje on the world map.

"It is fantastic and gratifying for me as a journalist that my reports can make such a big international impact," says Nuri Kino, "the reports made not only the U.S. government, but also the Iraqi, to become aware of the situation of the refugees."

The reports where translated and were in fact the first real articles dealing about this. Newspapers and TV stations from all around the world sent their journalists and photographers to Södertälje and they still do. United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S authority that protects people's freedom of religion, has also sent their people. The result of that trip is not yet obvious, but the report is expected to be finalised in May, according to the lawyer Elizabeth Cassidy.

The reports in Metro led to two hearings held by Cassidy's agency. In turn, these hearings led to the fact that the refugees' dreadful situation now finally is on its way to being acknowledged.

By Anders Göransson
www.metro.se

Editor's note: The English translations of Nuri Kino's Metro articles were first published by AINA; they have been followed up by the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, Dan Rather Report, CNN, al-Jazeera, BBC and many others. Here is a list of the articles:

• Sweden's 300 Million Dollar Iraqi Refugee Trafficking Business
• By God: Six Days in Amman -- The Plight Of The Iraqi Assyrian Christians in Jordan
• The Assyrian Iraqi Refugees in Jordan
• Swedish Embassy in Syria Accused of Taking Bribes From Iraqi Refugees
• Swedish Migration Board Passes Resolution Regarding Refugees From Iraq
• Assyrian Iraqi Refugee Crisis Prompts Calls for Assyrian Safe-haven
• US State Department Says Christian Autonomy in Iraq is Being Considered
• Iraqi Assyrian Refugees Flocking to Sweden
• Welcome to New Assyria, Sweden
• Kurdish Group Issued Forged Passports