High court temporarily suspends mass deportation of African migrants

15 March 2018, 6:09 pm

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The High Court of Justice temporarily suspends a government plan to deport tens of thousands of African migrants back to the continent against their will.

The emergency injunction is issued in response to a petition signed by 120 refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan.

The court said in its decision the state was given until March 26 to provide further information and the suspension would remain in place until then.

In January, Netanyahu’s government unveiled a plan to remove the African migrants, giving them a choice between leaving voluntarily or facing indefinite imprisonment with eventual forced expulsion.

Today’s ruling will not apply to those who have already volunteered to leave Israel for an unnamed African country.