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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-GERMANY-CHINA-RIGHTS
In new admin error, Germany expels Uighur man to China
BERLIN, Aug 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – German authorities wrongfully deported an
Uighur man to China due to an administrative error, local media reported
Monday, in a fresh scandal as the country seeks to step up expulsions of
failed asylum seekers.
Officials were due to hold a hearing with the 22-year-old Uighur, who was
not named, on April 3 over his asylum application, said regional public
broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).
But a fax announcing the hearing from the Federal Office for Migration and
Refugees (BAMF) apparently failed to reach local authorities in Bavaria, who,
in the early hours of April 3, put the Uighur man on a plane to Beijing.
“We were unable to find the fax despite an intensive search,” Munich
authorities told BR.
“We regret greatly that the deportation took place even though a valid
asylum application had been made. It was never the intention of the
immigration authorities of Munich to infringe on the rights of the foreigner
affected by the expulsion.”
The BAMF would not give details on individual cases but told the
broadcaster that expulsion would be “inadmissible” under such circumstances.
The Uighur asylum seeker’s lawyer Leo Borgmann said he has had no news from
his client since the deportation.
“There is no sign of life. We fear that he has been detained,” Borgmann
told BR.
– Secretive network –
Many of China’s mostly Muslim Uighur minority say they face cultural and
religious repression.
Members of the Uighur diaspora say relatives have been arrested for
seemingly innocuous acts such as sending Ramadan greetings to friends or
downloading popular music.
Chinese authorities are also believed to have detained hundreds of
thousands of Muslims in a secretive network of extra-judicial political re-
education centres, where inmates are given language and ideological training
and forced to participate in military-style drills.
The case surfaced after a series of administrative errors that led to
illegal deportations by German authorities.
In a further controversial case, a German court in July ordered that a man
who allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden be returned to
Germany only hours after his deportation to Tunisia, saying the expulsion was
illegal as he risks torture there.
The 42-year-old, identified by German authorities only as Sami A. and by
Tunis as Sami Idoudi, had lived in Germany for more than two decades, but
outrage over his presence grew in recent months.
Although he had won a court ruling against his deportation, the decision
reached federal authorities by fax a day later — hours after his flight to
Tunisia had taken off.
Also in July, the interior ministry was forced to repatriate an asylum
seeker who had been deported to Afghanistan even though his legal appeal
against expulsion was ongoing.
In June, another Afghan man who was allowed back into Germany after he was
illegally deported from the country was officially granted asylum.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1551 hrs