Following Breivik’s letter to the European Court of Human Rights complaining of cold coffee, insufficient time for his morning shave and not being allowed the TV remote, Sri Lanka is spearheading the world’s condemnation of Norway’s treatment of its most dangerous criminals. ‘You should show your mass murderers some respect,’ says the Sri Lankan government in an open letter to the Norwegian authorities, ‘and let them drink their own urine.’
An inmate in one of Peru’s toughest prisons has also written direct to Breivik in the hope of giving him some comfort. The message is believed to have been written in tomato ketchup on a small piece of very fine parchment-like material and smuggled across several continents and oceans. ‘Poor Mr Breivik,’ it reads, ‘having to do your own shaving. I guess you have to attach the wires yourself, too. Here, in Peru, these things are done for us. Chin up, amigo. Must dash, just in the middle of having my nails done.’
And a prisoner in Siberia, who was sentenced to forty years hard labour for sneezing in public, described the 27 years Breivik got for mass murder as an ‘insult’.
Other prisoners in Columbia and Chile have expressed their sympathy for Breivik having to serve his time in an open-plan environment. ‘You must feel lonely having to live in such a huge apartment with its suite of rooms for sleep, study and exercise. We get agoraphobic just thinking about it. Here, in a much smaller space, we have the warmth of contact with up to 200 others, sharing humanity in a very real way. Actually, it’s quite stuffy and claustrophobic now we think about it.’
Prison officers in Iran and China have also written to their counterparts at Ila Prison, Norway,where Breivik is serving his sentence, condemning them for their over-zealous regime. Even British Foreign Secretary William Hague was prepared to put aside his differences with Iran, agreeing that ‘not being allowed the TV remote is nothing short of sadistic torture.’
