Coordinator of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) Department of Refugee Affairs, Salim Idris, deplored Algeria’s deportation of dozens of Syrian asylum seekers to remote desert areas.
Idriss said that asylum seekers arriving in Algeria and intending to reach the European continent may face life-threatening risks when deported, not to mention that their personal belongings were confiscated.
Idriss added that Syrian asylum seekers were forced to leave their country and reach Algeria after Bashar al-Assad destroyed the country’s economy, in addition to killing and displacing the people and demolishing homes during the past 11 years. He pointed out that Syrian asylum seekers would not have crossed the deserts in order to reach Europe had the conditions in their country been stable.
Rights activists said that the Algerian authorities deported dozens of Syrian asylum seekers to a desert area near the Niger border in November and October 2022.
Rights reports indicated that the Algerian police abused and mistreated the asylum seekers during the deportation processes, amid a complete absence of necessary procedures to object to deportation.
The bodies of 10 asylum seekers arrived in Syria from Algeria on November 9, 2022. The victims drowned off the Algerian coast on October 3-4 while trying to reach Europe by boats. Of those, eight bodies were sent to the town of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), one to Manbij, and one to Latakia.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
