Germany has deported criminals to Afghanistan for the first time since the radical Islamist Taliban seized power three years ago. These are Afghan citizens, all of them convicted criminals with no right to remain in Germany, and with deportation orders.
National afghanswith criminal recordsome of them considered capable of carrying out politically motivated attacks, were expelled from Germany on Friday.
Los 28 deported, residing in different parts of Germany, were “Afghan nationals, all of them convicted criminals who had no right to remain in Germany and against whom expulsion orders had been issued,” according to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
It is the first time Afghan citizens have been expelled from Germany to their country of origin since Taliban took power. The deported people left, on Friday morning, on a Qatar Airways plane from Leipzig/Halle airport to Kabul.
“Convicted criminals”, according to German authorities
The German Government described those expelled as “convicted felons”and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzstated that the measure was a signal to all criminals.
Among the 28 expelled were dangerous people, that is, those who the German security authorities consider capable of committing the most serious crimes for political reasons, including attacks.
Local authorities stated that those returned to Afghanistan included violent and sexual offenders, including a man who had participated in the gang rape of a 14 year old girl.
Deportations to Afghanistan had been suspended for three years
Before the news, Germany had completely suspended deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul after the takeover of power by the taliban in 2021.
Deportations occur exactly a week after a deadly attack with a knife in the city of Solingenin western Germany, for which the Islamic State took responsibility.
It also occurs before regional elections this weekend in two states in eastern Germany, where expected to win the far-right and anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany, the AfD.
German Chancellor Scholz has faced pressure to stop the illegal immigration and take tougher measures against dangerous asylum seekers.
