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IMMIGRATION

Migrants who stormed Morocco-Spain border sent back

Spain on Thursday sent back to Morocco 116 migrants who had forced their way into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, in a mass expulsion condemned by human rights activists.

Published: 24 August 2018 09:10 CEST
Migrants who stormed Morocco-Spain border sent back
Migrants celebrate crossing into Spain on Thursday. Photo: AFP

“The 116 sub-Saharan migrants who entered Spain via the Ceuta border illegally yesterday (Wednesday) have been sent back to Morocco,” the Ceuta prefecture said in a statement.

The migrants made it into Ceuta after storming a barbed-wire border fence with Morocco and attacking police.

READ MORE: Migrants storm Morocco-Spain border fence, seven police injured

The Walking Borders humanitarian group described the return of the migrants as a “huge violation of human rights by the Spanish government”.   

However the Spanish interior ministry defended the “legality” of the expulsion.

“Once Morocco indicated it would accept these people…. the national police went to look for them at the holding centre for foreigners and transferred them to the police station…. All of them had a lawyer, an interpreter and medical aid,” a ministry spokesperson said.

“All were told of the possibility of applying for asylum but they didn't do it,” the spokesperson added, also saying that two minors in the group remained in Spain.

Spanish territories Ceuta and Melilla have the European Union's only land borders with Africa, drawing migrants trying to reach the bloc.   

Every year sub-Saharan African migrants living illegally in Morocco try to enter Europe either by climbing over border fences or swimming along the coastline.

Some 3,100 migrants have entered Ceuta and Melilla by land since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration.   

And over 25,000 others have arrived in Spain by sea, making it the main entry point for migrants arriving in Europe, after Italy and Greece.

CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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