Friday, 11 December, 2020 - 11:30
Migrants stay in a queue after arriving at the Austrian-German border in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany, October 27, 2015. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
Asharq Al-Awsat
Germany said Friday it would allow deportation of Syrians to their war-ravaged homeland from 2021 if they are deemed a security risk.
"The general ban on deportations (to Syria) will expire at the end of this year," Hans-Georg Engelke, state secretary at the interior ministry, told reporters.
"Those who commit crimes or pursue terrorist aims to do serious harm to our state and our population should and will have to leave our country."
The decision, which drew vehement criticism from human rights groups, was taken at a telephone conference between federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a hardline conservative who had long called for an end to the deportation ban, and his 16 state-level counterparts.