ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Saeed Mohammed Shukri along with nearly 30 other Iraqis, mostly Kurds, were deported to Baghdad on April 24 from Germany on the grounds that Berlin had repeatedly rejected their asylum cases.
Shukri told Rudaw’s Ghareeb Majeed in an interview on Tuesday that the German police treated them "terribly" when deporting them to Iraq.
"Before the deportation, I had been detained for ten days. After ten days, I was forced into a plane and I was sent to Baghdad in Iraq," Shukri sighed.
Germany is a favored destination country for the residents of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq who want to migrate to Europe.
Tens of thousands of Kurds, mostly the young, leave the Kurdistan Region for Europe every year in search of a better life, using smuggling routes introduced by smugglers. A number of these migrants died in freezing temperatures on the Belarus-Poland border and others drowned in the sea, suffering a catastrophic fate in recent years.
It is unclear how many Iraqis have so far been deported from Germany to Iraq in 2024.
Berlin deported more than 500 Iraqi nationals last year, according to official data obtained by Rudaw.
In an interview with Rudaw in August, Gonul Eglence, a member of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that Iraqi asylum seekers must not be deported to Iraq because it is an unsafe country. She explained that many individuals cannot be deported because they could face political persecution or their lives would be at risk due to their religious beliefs.
"Those people will not be deported. Instead, they receive Duldung. That means they can stay temporarily," Eglence said.
Below is the full transcript of the interview with Saeed Mohammed Shukri:
Saeed Mohammed Shukri : My name is Saeed Mohammed Shukri. I am from Zakho. In 2020, I migrated to Germany. I was there for three and a half to four years. I had my job there. I had a happy life. However, I was not granted asylum. The German government deported me. I was deported at 7 am by the country's police. Before the deportation, I had been detained for ten days. After ten days, I was forced into a plane and I was sent to Baghdad in Iraq.
Rudaw: When were you deported?
I was deported on April 24. Yes, they deported me to Baghdad. We were stopped at the Baghdad airport for six to seven hours as they were arranging some papers for us. In the end, we were let go. We took a taxi and came back home to Zakho.
Where were you living in Germany? Which city?
I was in Regensburg City, Bayern.
How many others were deported along with you?
Around 25 to 30 other people were deported along with me. Two to three other people were also from Zakho. There were people from Semel town, from Duhok city, Erbil, and Sulaimani. There were people also from Baghdad.
Did you ask why they would deport you?
They said our asylums had been rejected. That is why they deported us.
How did they treat you?
They handcuffed our hands and legs with three policemen escorting us. They treated us terribly. The three policemen were with us in Baghdad.
Did they pay you any amount of money while deporting you?
Before boarding the plane, they gave us each 200 euros, and then we signed a piece of paper for them. This was all.
What was your job in Germany?
Well, I was working at a restaurant. I had a formal job. But in the end, we were deported.
Had you made any problems there to make them deport you? Did you have criminal records?
No. The only reason that pushed them to deport us was that our asylum applications had been rejected. A year ago, I received a warning that I must leave the country, but I refused. All of a sudden [on April 14] at 7 am, they [the police] raided my house and arrested me.
Were you asleep when they did that to you?
Yes, I was asleep. When I opened my eyes, I saw four policemen around me—two of them in casual clothing and the other two wearing police uniforms.
How did the policemen who raided your house treat you? Tell us about what they did to you when they broke into your house.
I was asleep. I opened my eyes and noticed that somebody opened the door of my house. They had a copy of the key. I asked them what was wrong with them. At first, they checked my house. They checked everything inside... In the end, they asked me to pack my belongings and get my bag ready. I did so. I never knew it was to deport me. I never knew that they would deport me in this way.
Were there deported children and women among you?
Yes. A woman who had four children was deported alone.
Where was the woman from? Do you know anything about her?
I think she was from Erbil.
Were there any children at all among you?
No, there were no kids with us.
Only adults?
Yes, young men mostly, as well as a woman and an elderly man.
Do you know how old the elderly man was?
I would say around 60.
What is your message?
My message is that the government should take care of our youth and stop them from migrating to this country [Germany]. All they need at home is a job. This is all I could say.
