A flight has taken off from an airport in eastern Germany deporting individuals to Afghanistan.
A deportation flight to Afghanistan has left Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, the Interior Ministry for the state of Saxony said on Friday.
A Qatar Airways charter jet carrying 28 Afghan offenders brought from various German states left Leipzig, the biggest city in the eastern state of Saxony, for Kabul at 6:56 am (0456 GMT).
Germany’s federal Interior Ministry organized the operation. Berlin had stopped returning people to Afghanistan on human rights concerns after the Taliban took power in 2021.
The German government said in a statement that it thanked “key regional partners” for their support. It added that more such deportations were in the works.
Deportation ahead of state election
A political debate over asylum and deportation rules has been brewing in Germany ahead of state elections.
Thuringia and Saxony, two eastern German states where the anti-immigrant AfD party is leading in the polls, are holding elections on Sunday.
The discussion has grown increasingly heated after three people were killed and eight wounded in the attack which took place during a festival marking Solingen’s 650 years. The suspect is a failed asylum seeker from Syria.
Credit: DW news
