Unaware of deportation. (archives)
Photo: Reuters
Judge: Refugee tricked into deportation
Administrative Court slams Interior Ministry, Ketziot Custody Court for forcing asylum seeker to sign request to return to Chad without being given translation of document
The Administrative Court on Tuesday harshly criticized the Interior Ministry and Ketziot Custody Court after they tricked an African asylum seeker into siging a request to return to Chad, without having the document translated to his native language, and despite the legal proceeding that was being held in his case.
The Interior Ministry claimed Aron Abdullah Hassan agreed to sign a departure document, in which he expressed his will to return to Chad, but during a phone conversation with Red Cross representatives, Hassan said he does not want to leave Israel.
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"The circumstances in which the petitioner signed a request to leave the country are unclear," wrote Deputy President of the Beersheba District Court Judge Baruch Azoulai.
"The request was written in English and was not translated into Arabic, while the petitioner's level of proficiently in the English language is uncertain," the judge said, while also criticizing the fact that the State did not inform the asylum seeker about the legal proceedings that are being held against him.
Attorney Yiftah Cohen from the Anu Plitim foundation (We Are Refugees), which helped Hassan file an appeal on his arrest, said that "the Interior Ministry's decision to deport him from Israel while the court is pending a decision on his appeal is like thieves acting in the night. This act is morally repulsive and needs to be condemned."
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