Iraqi asylum seekers released

IMMIGRATION police said yesterday two Iraqi brothers who had been detained since their evacuation from Lebanon six weeks ago had been released.

The two men, who came to Cyprus on board a French warship in July, were found guilty of illegal entry and jailed. Upon their release they were detained at the police holding cells in Nicosia’s central prison as illegal immigrants. The two men said they had asked for political asylum at Larnaca port but that their request had been ignored. Immigration police deny this accusation, claiming instead the two men had asked for asylum only after they’d been convicted.

The men had sought refuge in Lebanon from their own war torn country, only to have to flee again following the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.

Immigrant support group KISA had repeatedly said the pair were Iraqi and therefore eligible for political asylum.

Immigration police said the men’s documents could have been forged and that they first had to determine their authenticity.

Aliens and Immigration deputy unit commander Christakis Pavlou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday the men had been released.

“They were released on Tuesday afternoon after their nationality was confirmed,” he said.

The pair’s asylum application is still in the process of being examined, Pavlou added.

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.