THIRTY-FOUR Syrians and Kurds were deported to Syria last week, despite pending applications for political asylum, a direct breach of human rights and international law.
Although the Immigration Department were yesterday unable to comment on the matter, the evidence suggests that all 34 were shipped back to Lebanon on the ill-fated Royal Prince.
Deportation without trial for political asylum seekers, contravenes international treaties signed by Cyprus, including the European Convention of Human Rights.
The Royal Prince left for Beirut on early Tuesday morning, after a delegation from the Syrian government arrived in Cyprus on Monday.
Cyprus operates two bi-lateral treaties with Syria and Lebanon for the return of all illegal immigrants, caught and deported from Cyprus.
The UNHCR sent a letter to the government on Tuesday – the same day that the immigrants were deported — warning them of the 34 pending cases.
But by Wednesday morning, the 34 had left Wing 10, Nicosia Prison.
President of the Immigrant Support Action Group (ISAG) Doros Polycarpou yesterday accused the government of perpetrating racism, and violating agreements signed by the Attorney-General Alecos Markides at Strasbourg to cooperate with racism and battle against discrimination.
“The Interior Ministry is acting in exactly the opposite way. Government statements make the population feel really threatened. We only have 100 political refugees and they’re telling us we’re not in a position to accept any more,” said Polycarpou.
Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou tightened the screws on asylum seekers in a series of speeches this month.
He claimed many immigrants were bogus asylum seekers, who made false claims just to stay in Cyprus. Two weeks ago he announced that foreign workers who have pending court cases against their employers will be forced to return to their home countries until their case reached the courts.
“The government is not respecting their own law or the international conventions. We are asking for a public discussion about these issues, but they are refusing to discuss it,” said Polycarpou.
The ISAG also criticised the UNHCR for not standing up against the government in public over violations of the law.
The Syrians arrived in Cyprus on November 17. On November 23, some of the party confirmed their intention to seek political asylum.
On November 28, representatives of the UNHCR visited them in prison to take their details and apply for their release.
Earlier this month a Sudanese man was extradited 36 hours before his case was due to be heard in the Supreme Court.
He was extradited without trial, despite allegations that he faced persecution and torture in Sudan.
His lawyer Nicolas Angelides said the government’s gross violation of human rights jeopardises the country’s international reputation and ridicules plans for EU membership.
Angelides was told on the highest authority that government policy permitted the immediate deportation of any illegal aliens as soon as they were caught.
Cyprus adopted the Refugee Act on 31 January 2000. The government has still failed to establish a national body to review political asylum cases – a further breach in the European Convention of Human Rights.
The UNHCR said the number of applications for political asylum had jumped in recent years. In 1997 there were just 10 to 20, the figure for this year is nearer to 300.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
