Don’t Extradite Refugees To Persecutor States – Büenger

Posted by Eric Ojo Europe, Latest Headlines Monday, November 14th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A member of the German Bundestag, Clara Büenger has condemned the extradition of refugees to the states seeking their persecution.

Büenger, who is the spokesperson on refugee policy in her parliamentary group, said, “again and again, people are deported to countries where they are threatened with severe political persecution, indiscriminate imprisonment and torture”.

She cited as an example Turkey, where she said leftist and Kurdish opposition figures are being persecuted ever more ruthlessly. “Refugees must not be de facto extradited to their persecutor states”, she said.

The lawmaker is a member of the hard-left opposition party, Die Linke.
Germany deported 9,567 people between January and September this year, according to information from the Interior Ministry seen by dpa.

In comparison, Germany deported 11,982 people total in 2021. Notably, the Balkan states of Northern Macedonia, Albania and Serbia were the most common destinations for deportees, with each country receiving more than 600 people. Almost 600 people were deported to Georgia as well.

Deportations to EU countries Spain, France, Poland, Austria and Italy ranked some way behind. In 10th place among the countries of destination was Turkey.

In a related development, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for the release of Alaa Abdel Fattah, an Egyptian-British activist who has served lengthy prison terms and is currently on hunger strike while in jail.

The German Chancellor made the call during his visit to Egypt at the start of the week.

Meanwhile, the German embassy in Cairo has lodged a complaint with the Egyptian government over unwanted monitoring by security officials at the COP27 World Climate Conference being held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, dpa learned on Sunday.

Egyptian security officials are reported to have monitored and filmed events held at the German pavilion. The German embassy has called on the Egyptian authorities to cease this activity.

According to the report, the German conference area has over recent days hosted events focusing on the human rights situation in Egypt, with sharp criticism being expressed.

Participants have included the heads of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, Tirana Hassan and Agnès Callamard, along with Egyptian activist Sanaa Saif, a film editor who has served prison terms in Egypt.

Egyptian visitors to the German area took photographs and videos and disrupted proceedings with lengthy interventions on at least two occasions. While tensions rose, there were no violent incidents.

Egyptian security sources also told dpa that the security of foreign seminars and activities was a task for the UN services. Their role as Egyptians was restricted to security outside the halls and in the city, they said.

German delegation sources told dpa that they had drawn the attention of delegation members to potential security risks that could arise during the conference and that the German embassy had sent an advisory email to delegation members.

Neither HRW nor Amnesty have offices in Egypt. A block on the HRW website in place for years was lifted a few days ago.