Calls have increased in Germany for Syrian refugees to return to their country.
The German Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday the deportation of a Syrian man from Germany for the first time since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011.
The ministry stated that the Syrian migrant, who had previously been convicted of criminal offenses in Germany, was deported to Damascus, where he was handed over to Syrian authorities on Tuesday morning. Read more after the announcement.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a statement: “Society has a legitimate interest in ensuring that criminals leave our country.”.
He told the German newspaper Bild: “Criminals must leave our country. We stand for control, strictness, and firmness, and we show no mercy to expelled criminals.”.
Bild reported that the deportee is a Syrian citizen born in 1988, who lived in Germany for several years and was convicted of several offenses, the last of which was a court order against him for theft, physical assault, and extortion.
The deportation decision came after Berlin reached an agreement with Damascus to allow for periodic deportations in the future.
Germany had suspended direct deportations to Syria after the outbreak of war in 2011.
Around one million Syrians have migrated to Germany to escape the war, with a large portion of them arriving in 2015.
Following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime late last year, calls have grown in Germany for Syrian refugees to return to their country. However, the center-left government at the time warned that it was still too early to determine whether conditions in Syria were conducive to such a return.
Source: Sky News
