Germany deports man to Syria for first time since 2011

Germany has deported a man to Syria for the first time since the civil war broke out in that country in 2011, the interior ministry in Berlin says.

A Syrian immigrant previously convicted of criminal offenses in Germany was flown to Damascus and handed over to Syrian authorities this morning, the ministry says.

“Our society has a legitimate interest in ensuring that criminals leave our country,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt says in a press release.

The deportation just before Christmas caps months of talks with Syria’s government, which mirrored similar efforts by Berlin to strike a deportation deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Human rights groups have criticized efforts to send immigrants back to either country, citing continued instability and evidence of rights abuses.

But Germany’s conservative-led government has made the resumption of deportations to Syria a diplomatic priority since former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country just over a year ago. In July, Austria became the first European Union country to deport someone to Syria since 2011.

The German ministry says that deals have now been struck with both Damascus and Kabul to allow regular deportations of “criminals and dangerous individuals” in the future.