Plane full of criminals Germany deports to Afghanistan again - despite the Taliban
Afghans were deported from Leipzig/Halle Airport on Friday morning. (archive photo)
Image: dpa
The Islamist Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan since August 2021. (Archive photo)
Image: dpa
German Chancellor Scholz at an election campaign event near Leipzig.
Image: dpa
Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser thanked the Federal Police and the federal states for their close cooperation.
Image: dpa
Afghans were deported from Leipzig/Halle Airport on Friday morning. (archive photo)
Image: dpa
The Islamist Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan since August 2021. (Archive photo)
Image: dpa
German Chancellor Scholz at an election campaign event near Leipzig.
Image: dpa
Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser thanked the Federal Police and the federal states for their close cooperation.
Image: dpa
Deportations to a country ruled by the Taliban? Some people in Germany could hardly imagine that. Now a flight has taken off to Afghanistan, which is causing displeasure among human rights activists.
30.08.2024, 16:42
30.08.2024, 16:58
dpa
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- For the first time since the Taliban took power three years ago, Germany has deported Afghan nationals back to their country of origin.
- According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, this involved 28 Afghans who had committed crimes in Germany.
- The procedure could be a blueprint for future deportations to Afghanistan and possibly also Syria.
The Saxon Ministry of the Interior announced that the deportation plane had taken off from Leipzig/Halle Airport in the morning with 28 Afghan men on board who had committed crimes in Germany.
Germany does not maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban rulers in Kabul. Following the deadly knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced that the deportation of serious criminals and terrorists to Afghanistan and Syria would be made possible again.
"It is a clear signal: Anyone who commits crimes cannot count on us not getting them deported, but we will try to do so, as you can see in this case," said the SPD politician at an election campaign event near Leipzig.
Although the deportation flight took off a few days after the allegedly Islamist-motivated fatal knife attack in Solingen, it had a much longer lead time, according to official sources. Der Spiegel" wrote of two months.
Blueprint for future deportations to Afghanistan?
The procedure could now also be a blueprint for future deportations to Afghanistan and possibly Syria. The German government has been examining options for deportation to these countries for months.
Asylum law provides grounds for exclusion from protection in Germany, for example war crimes. In its "security package", the "traffic light" coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP has undertaken to expand this list to include anti-Semitic crimes, among other things.
The Greens in particular and their Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have so far been sceptical about deportations to Afghanistan and have warned against indirectly recognizing the Islamist Taliban government.
The Parliamentary Secretary of the FDP parliamentary group, Stephan Thomae, emphasized that the flight should not remain an isolated case. "It must be the first case in a series of deportations. Deportations of criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan and Syria must not be taboo either."
Expert fears expansion of deportation practice
Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig fears that deportations could also be extended in future to Afghans who are not serious criminals or dangerous individuals. It is also unclear what the Taliban, who rule Afghanistan, will do with the deported men and whether they will be detained.
"Some rejected Afghans could be deported before they even have a chance to appeal," says Ruttig. The uncertain future of the Federal Reception Program, which is intended to offer protection to particularly vulnerable Afghans in Germany, "fits in with the political atmosphere of the winding down of Germany's involvement in Afghanistan", the expert went on to criticize.
The Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany, Julia Duchrow, expressed her alarm: "We all have human rights - and no one should be deported to a country where there is a threat of torture," said Duchrow. Extrajudicial executions, disappearances and torture are commonplace under the Taliban. The government risks "making itself an accomplice to the Taliban".
Few rights for women in Afghanistan
The Islamist Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan since August 2021 and have been criticized internationally for their massive curtailment of women's rights. Overall, there has been a significant decline in armed conflict in the country since the Taliban returned to power, although attacks continue to occur.
Critics complain of a crackdown on human rights activists, demonstrators and journalists under Taliban rule, who are threatened with arrest, disappearance or torture according to human rights organizations.
