Al-Kompis quoted lawyer Nadia Hatem as confirming the issuance of deportation decisions by the Swedish Migration Agency against Syrian asylum seekers because it considered Damascus “safe”.
According to the Swedish Arabic-language website, it received a letter from a Syrian asylum seeker, in which he spoke of his and his family’s suffering because of the decision to deport him. He had seen a copy of the decision, which was issued even though he was being prosecuted by the Assad regime authorities.
According to the letter, Khaled (alias) from rural Damascus was involved in the Syrian regime forces until 2012 and worked at the rank of an assistant, before defecting and leaving Syria.
Khaled said in his letter that he and his family took refuge in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, and after spending a long time in the camp, a decision was issued to deport him and his family from Jordan within 15 days.
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Because of his defection, he was unable to return to Syria, because he was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison. He then went with his family to Turkey, from there to Sweden, and applied for asylum in 2019.
According to the letter, three years after his arrival, a decision was issued by the Migration Agency to deport him with his family, because Damascus was considered a “safe city”. Appeals against the decision did not help to reach a different conclusion.
Finally, he noted that the right to a lawyer by immigration was no longer valid, owing to a final decision in his case.
Are decisions implemented?
Commenting on Khaled’s case, lawyer Nadia Hatem said that this case is not the first, there are several decisions issued in this regard. She advised Khaled to respond to the immigration authority and implement its requests, because “failure to respond is not in his interest.”
Are deportation decisions against Syrians being implemented or not? “Deportation decisions are not implemented against Syrians, because there is no possibility to travel to Damascus airport. Therefore, deportation decisions are issued, and the implementation of the decision is suspended because it is not possible to travel,” the lawyer replied.
“This is good in Khaled’s case because it will give him room to try again and get asylum in Sweden.”
Sweden follows suit with its neighbor Denmark, the first EU country to deny Syrians asylum status, at a time when most areas of Syria are classified as unsafe by the United Nations.
Previous decisions have prompted civil society organizations in Denmark to act and prove that refugees facing deportation are vulnerable to human rights violations by the Assad regime.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
