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One of Sweden’s famous companies has apologised selling products made in communist prisons. The furniture IKEA said it “deeply regrets” buying furniture that was made using labour in prisons in East Germany over twenty years . IKEA is famous for its modern, clean designs and prices. However, few people knew about a period in its history. The company now admits that political prisoners in communist East Germany were forced to make some of the furniture in IKEA stores across the world. This was before the of the Berlin Wall, when Germany was split in two. IKEA manager Jeanette Skjelmose told reporters: “We deeply regret that this could .”

IKEA said it checks working conditions at its suppliers very . They also checked suppliers 20 to 30 years ago, but their checks did not the use of forced labour in prisons. Ms Skjelmose said: “The use of political prisoners for manufacturing was at no accepted by IKEA….[30 years ago] we didn’t have the -developed control system that we have today. We clearly did too to [stop those] methods.” Many of the prisoners now want – they want IKEA to pay them for their . Human rights campaigner Rainer Wagner said many companies used cheap, forced prison labour in East Germany. He said: “IKEA is only the tip of the .”