1st Syrian refugee deported from EU country

The Austrian Ministry of Interior announced yesterday the deportation of a Syrian refugee convicted of criminal offenses to his home country, making Austria the first European country to officially carry out a direct deportation to Syria in nearly 15 years.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner stated that “the deportation of the Syrian refugee comes as part of a strict yet fair asylum policy.”

He noted that “this step is a continuation of the approach adopted by the Austrian government since the ousting of Bashar al-Assad last December.”

Karner emphasized his government’s commitment to pursuing this course “with serious action and clear determination,” stressing that “Austria will continue to implement a stricter asylum policy,” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Austrian Ministry of Interior stated that “this operation represents the first official deportation of a Syrian refugee convicted of criminal offenses to his country in recent years at the European Union level.”

On February 8, the Austrian Ministry of Interior began preparing a program to deport Syrian refugees and return them voluntarily to their country.

The ministry had previously stated that, since last December, it started withdrawing asylum applications submitted by Syrian refugees and suspending decisions on their approval.

It also indicated that the number of Syrian refugees whose asylum applications had been withdrawn in Austria at the time had reached 2,400.

In statements to Austrian media, the ministry said that the number of asylum applications had dropped by 55% since the fall of the Baath regime in Syria in December.

According to statistics from the Austrian Ministry of Interior, 618 Syrians applied for asylum in January compared to 1,993 asylum applications submitted during the same month in 2024.

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ANHA