German govt sued over Afghan DPs
Internally displaced families from northern provinces, who fled from their homes due the fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces, take shelter in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 10, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS
Rights activists in Germany filed criminal cases on Friday against two government ministers after Afghans accepted under a German scheme for at-risk refugees were deported from Pakistan while waiting for their visas.
The group Pro Asyl said Pakistan had arrested hundreds of them this week and deported 34, placing them at risk of "arbitrary imprisonment, mistreatment or even execution" in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Pro Asyl and a second group said they had filed charges against Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, accusing them of "abandonment and failure to render assistance" to Afghan refugees caught up in an escalating crackdown by Pakistani authorities.
The cases relate to a government scheme set up under former German chancellor Olaf Scholz in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan four years ago.