Deportations to Iran before the end

In Iran, the mullah regime is taking massive action against members of the opposition. Since the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was taken into custody by the Islamic morality police because she allegedly wore her headscarf incorrectly and later died in hospital, protests have been taking place across the country. Women publicly take off their headscarves to demonstrate against the regime's coercion.

This is brutal against the protests. The already poor human rights situation has worsened in the face of the demonstrations. According to Amnesty International, 251 people were executed in the country in the first half of this year alone. Critics of the regime are banned from leaving the country or arrested, and demonstrators are shot at.

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) brought up a ban on deportations last week. "Deportations to Iran are irresponsible in the current disastrous human rights situation," Faeser told Der Spiegel. "A ban on deportations is the right step, which the federal states should decide on as soon as possible."

Faeser's demand was preceded by the scandal surrounding the 41-year-old Iranian, Reza R., who was tolerated. He came to the immigration office in Passau expecting to receive a work permit that had been promised to him - and was arrested there by two police officers. R.'s deportation was stopped after the circumstances became known.

Iran is one of the ten largest countries of origin for asylum seekers in Germany. From January to August 2022, a total of 3,523 asylum applications were made by Iranians in Germany, including 1,340 by women, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in response to a WELT request. The protection rate is 30.5 percent.

11,589 Iranians are currently required to leave the country, but 10,332 of them have a toleration, as the Federal Office further announced. Accordingly, 1257 people are currently threatened with deportation to Iran. Nationwide, from January to August 2022, only 31 Iranians were reportedly deported from Germany.

Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) agreed with Faeser and declared that deportations from Lower Saxony should be temporarily suspended. "Our solidarity is with the many brave people in Iran who are rebelling against the mullahs' regime," especially with the "brave women," Pistorius said. At the responsible conference of interior ministers (IMK) in November, he wants to apply for a nationwide ban on deportations.

North Rhine-Westphalia is also suspending the deportations until further notice, as the Ministry of Integration informs WELT. Given the human rights situation in the country, anything else would be “irresponsible”.

When asked, Berlin, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg also announced that they had stopped the deportations. Like many other federal states, Saarland is not planning any deportations this year.

"A general freeze on deportations is to be viewed critically," says the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of the Interior. Although those affected could assert reasons against deportation in “individual cases”, such as women, a fundamental departure, especially with regard to criminals, is a “very far-reaching procedure”, according to the ministry.

Rhineland-Palatinate is also currently advising on a deportation freeze; When asked about the protests of 2009, known as the Green Movement, the Ministry of Integration has had a “conditional approval”. Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg refer to a nationwide regulation on the IMK. They can make a corresponding decision at their meeting at the end of November. "Until then, deportations to Iran are not planned by Bavaria, with the exception of serious criminals," said Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) WELT.

Herrmann, who is also IMK chairman, is now demanding a new status report on the security situation in Iran from Federal Minister Faeser. This is the basis for assessments by the Conference of Interior Ministers, which can then decide to stop deportations. According to the Foreign Office, the asylum situation report on Iran is being worked on at full speed. We don't want to prejudge the result.

Pro Asyl considers an immediate stop to deportations to be urgently needed. Peter von Auer, who is responsible for legal policy at the human rights organization, demands that the individual countries should anticipate the conference of interior ministers in the autumn with their own decisions.

The pressure to stop deportations is also increasing in the Bundestag. Sebastian Hartmann, domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, praised the first decisions made by individual countries. A nationwide freeze on deportations would be "to be welcomed and consistent," said Filiz Polat, parliamentary director of the Greens parliamentary group. Polat hopes for the necessary unanimous decision of the IMK; In the future, responsibility for this – as agreed in the coalition agreement – ​​should lie with the federal government, Polat told WELT.

"The Iranian regime has lost all legitimacy," says German-Iranian political scientist Dr. Ali Fathollah-Neja on the protests in Iran. Although the regime has lost the support of the lower and middle classes, international solidarity is still essential.

Source: WORLD

Clara Bünger, spokeswoman for refugee policy for the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, also calls for “humanitarian visas” and a residence permit for all Iranians who are tolerated. "Because a deportation stop alone does not offer a secure perspective."

The AfD parliamentary group rejects a deportation stop. Deportees are free to decide whether to demonstrate and endanger themselves, according to the domestic spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Gottfried Curio. "People who are here illegally have to face consequences if you don't want to undermine the credibility of German laws."

Peter Heidt, spokesman for human rights and humanitarian aid for the FDP parliamentary group, emphasizes whether deportations to Iran are justifiable. According to Heidt, Germany must now "support the Iranians with all the means at our disposal", for example through personal sanctions against members of the regime and the emphasis on human rights in the nuclear negotiations. "The era of kicking around Iran must end."

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