Austria Deported Criminals to Syria

The Ministry of the Interior carried out the deportation of a Syrian criminal to his home country on Thursday morning. This marked the first deportation to Syria in 15 years, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Last week, it was canceled due to the closed airspace over the country following the escalation of the Middle East conflict.

Deportation of Syrian carried out

"Today's deportation is part of a tough and thus fair asylum policy," emphasized Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). The path of deporting convicted criminals will continue with "hard work and determination," even in the case of Syria, Karner explained, expressing confidence that there will be "further deportations to the country in the foreseeable future." According to Karner, preparations for this are underway.

The affected criminal was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018, during which his asylum status was also revoked, Karner stated in a press statement. According to the Ministry of the Interior, he had promoted for IS. Last year, the man was released, but was then convicted again and taken into custody. He has now been deported via a scheduled flight through Istanbul to the Syrian capital Damascus, Karner said at Vienna Airport. For the Interior Minister, the next stop is Sofia, and on Friday he will visit the Bulgarian-Turkish EU external border.

Karner was in Syria

Austria's intention to take deportations seriously had been apparent for some time. Together with his then German counterpart Nancy Faeser, Karner visited Syria at the end of April and sought talks with the new rulers there, agreeing on "concrete implementation steps" regarding return and deportations, as Karner later explained.

The personal meeting with the Syrian Interior Minister made the cooperation possible in the first place, Karner noted. With the new government in Syria, which was formed after the fall of the former ruler Bashar al-Assad, there can be no agreement yet.

Syria deportations unusual

Deportations from the EU to Syria are currently absolutely unusual. Although a Eurostat statistic suggests that several dozen people from countries like Romania and Hungary have been transferred to the country in recent months, it is unclear whether these deportations actually took place. According to the Ministry of the Interior, Austria is the first European country to officially deport a Syrian criminal directly to Syria in recent years. Since the fall of the Assad regime, 350 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their home country, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.