German authorities wrongfully deported an Uighur man to China due to an administrative error, local media reported yesterday, in a fresh scandal as the nation seeks to step up expulsions of refused asylum seekers.
Officials were due to hold a hearing with the 22-year-old Uighur, who was not named, on April 3 over his asylum application, regional public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) said.
However, a fax announcing the hearing from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) apparently failed to reach local authorities in Bavaria, who, in the early hours of April 3, put the Uighur man on a plane to Beijing.
“We were unable to find the fax despite an intensive search,” Munich authorities told BR.
“We regret greatly that the deportation took place even though a valid asylum application had been made. It was never the intention of the immigration authorities of Munich to infringe on the rights of the foreigner affected by the expulsion,” they said.
The BAMF would not give details on individual cases, but told the broadcaster that expulsion would be “inadmissible” under such circumstances.
The Uighur asylum seeker’s lawyer, Leo Borgmann, said he has had no news from his client since the deportation.
“There is no sign of life. We fear that he has been detained,” Borgmann told BR.
The case surfaced after a series of administrative errors that led to illegal deportations by German authorities.
In a further controversial case, a German court last month ordered that a man who allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden be returned to Germany only hours after his deportation to Tunisia, saying the expulsion was illegal as he risks torture there.
The 42-year-old, identified by German authorities only as Sami A. and by Tunis as Sami Idoudi, had lived in Germany for more than two decades, but outrage over his presence grew in recent months.
Although he had won a court ruling against his deportation, the decision reached federal authorities by fax a day later — hours after his flight to Tunisia had taken off.
Also last month, the German Ministry of the Interior was forced to repatriate an asylum seeker who had been deported to Afghanistan even though his legal appeal against expulsion was ongoing.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese