Michael Ejercito
2018-07-18 11:19:01 UTC
Germany's Dysfunctional Deportation System
by Soeren Kern
July 18, 2018 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12723/germany-deportation-system
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Aidoudi's asylum request was rejected in 2007 after allegations surfaced
that he had undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in
Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. During his training, he had allegedly
worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden.
The government in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed that for years Aidoudi
had been receiving €1,168 ($1,400) each month in welfare and child support
payments.
"Salafists such as Sami A. have no business in Germany and should be
deported. Germany should not be a retirement retreat for jihadists." —
Alexander Dobrindt, Member of the German Bundestag.
A court in Gelsenkirchen has ruled that deporting a self-declared Islamist —
suspected of being a bodyguard of the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden — was "grossly unlawful" and ordered him returned to Germany.
The case has cast a spotlight on the dysfunctional nature of Germany's
deportation system, as well as on Germany's politicized judicial system,
which on human rights grounds is making it nearly impossible to expel
illegal migrants, including those who pose security threats.
The 42-year-old failed asylum seeker from Tunisia — identified by German
authorities as Sami A., but known in his native country as Sami Aidoudi —
had been living in Germany since 1997. Aidoudi, a Salafist Islamist, is
believed by German authorities to have spent time in Afghanistan and
Pakistan before the al-Qaeda attacks against the United States on September
11, 2001. Since then, he was under surveillance by German intelligence for
propagating Islamist teachings and attempting to radicalize young Muslims.
He had "far reaching" relationships with Salafist and jihadist networks,
according to an official report leaked to the German newsmagazine, Focus.
Aidoudi's asylum request was rejected in 2007 after allegations surfaced
that he had undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in
Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. During his training, he had allegedly
worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden. Aidoudi denied the charges and
claimed to have been studying during that time in Karachi, Pakistan.
Sami Aidoudi (left) lived in Germany since 1997, until he was deported to
his homeland of Tunisia on July 13, 2018. He is alleged to have undergone
military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in Afghanistan between 1999 and
2000. He had allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden (right)
during his training. (Image sources: Aidoudi - SpiegelTV video screenshot;
Bin Laden - Wikimedia Commons)
Despite rejecting Aidoudi's asylum application, German courts repeatedly
blocked his deportation out of fears that he could be tortured or mistreated
in his homeland.
In April 2017, for instance, a court in Münster ruled that Aidoudi faced
"the considerable likelihood" of "torture and inhumane or degrading
treatment" if he returned to Tunisia.
In April 2018, Aidoudi's continued presence in Germany sparked public
outrage when it emerged that he had been living in Bochum for more than a
decade with his German wife and their four children — at taxpayer expense —
even though German intelligence agencies had classified him as a security
threat.
In response to an inquiry from the anti-immigration party Alternative for
Germany (AfD), the government in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed that for
years Aidoudi had been receiving €1,168 ($1,400) each month in welfare and
child-support payments.
In May 2018, Germany's Constitutional Court ruled that another Tunisian
jihadi — identified only as 37-year-old Heikel S., accused of involvement in
the March 2015 jihadi attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis — could be
deported to his homeland.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer seized on this ruling and called on
immigration authorities to make Aidoudi's case a top priority. "My goal is
to achieve deportation," he said.
On June 25, Aidoudi was detained after Seehofer ordered immigration
authorities to expedite deportation proceedings.
A few weeks later, on July 13, before dawn, Aidoudi, escorted by four
federal police officers and a doctor, was placed on a specially chartered
Learjet and flown from Düsseldorf to Tunisia. Aidoudi's deportation cost
German taxpayers nearly €80,000 ($95,000), according to Focus magazine.
Although the Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court had blocked Aidoudi's
deportation the night before, the decision was not passed on to immigration
authorities until the next morning — after the plane was already airborne.
When the court learned of Aidoudi's deportation, it demanded that he be
returned to Germany. The court said that Aidoudi's deportation had infringed
upon "fundamental principles of the rule of law." The judges, apparently
sensing that they had been duped, complained that German immigration
authorities had failed to reveal to them the time of Aidoudi's flight and
implied that those authorities had "knowingly" defied the court's order.
The next day, on July 14, Tunisian authorities added fuel to the fire by
saying that they had no plans to return Aidoudi to Germany. "We have a
sovereign justice system that is investigating him," a spokesperson for
Tunisia's public prosecutor's office, Sofiene Sliti, told the DPA German
news agency.
On July 17, Aidoudi claimed that his deportation was "pure racism" and
implied that he would file a lawsuit against the German government. In an
interview with Bild, he said:
"I was kidnapped from Germany. At three o'clock in the morning they simply
took me away. I told the police: 'This is not possible. A court has blocked
my deportation.' But they said the order had come from the top and that I
could not do anything about it. I was not even allowed to see my lawyer.
They also prevented me from contacting my wife and children."
Seehofer blamed the deportation on a "communication failure" but his critics
accused him of knowingly trying to out-maneuver the German courts.
Justice Minister Katarina Barley, a Social Democrat, said:
"What independent courts decide, must apply. When the authorities choose
which judicial decisions they will follow and which they will not, that is
the end of the rule of law."
In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Greens leader Robert Habeck said:
"Either it is absolutely embarrassing chaos, or it stinks to high heaven,
because the authorities at the interior ministry wanted to make an example
[of Sami A].
"First and foremost, we need to clarify whether Interior Minister Horst
Seehofer personally tried to circumvent the court's decision.
"In any event, the damage that has now been done is much greater than
waiting for the court decision. The authorities are weak and stupid,
especially in times when trust in institutions is dwindling."
By contrast, critics of Germany's deportation system called for changes to
the existing laws. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group member Axel Fischer said
that under the current system, "The personal rights of Islamists are given
more weight than the security interests of the German people." He added that
current legislation "gives the impression that it is virtually impossible to
deport Islamist perpetrators to countries such as Tunisia, regardless of how
dangerous they are."
In an editorial published before Idoudi's expulsion, the newspaper Bild
commented on Germany's dysfunctional deportation system:
"The deportation lunacy of ex-bin Laden bodyguard Sami A. is never-ending.
German authorities still see no way to send the top Salafist back to his
homeland — even though Tunisia's Minister for Human Rights, Mehdi Ben
Gharbia, assured Bild that there is NO risk of torture in Tunisia.
"Since 2006, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the
state government of North Rhine-Westphalia have been trying in vain to get
rid of the former confidant of the mass murderer Osama bin Laden.
"Although the al-Qaeda man (living in Bochum since 1997) is classified by
the constitutional protection as a 'dangerous preacher,' he continues to be
tolerated in Germany, and collects 1,100 euros in monthly support.
"In the words of Alexander Dobrindt, a Member of the German Bundestag,
'Salafists such as Sami A. have no business in Germany and should be
deported. Germany should not be a retirement retreat for jihadists.'"
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook
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by Soeren Kern
July 18, 2018 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12723/germany-deportation-system
Send
Share30
Aidoudi's asylum request was rejected in 2007 after allegations surfaced
that he had undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in
Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. During his training, he had allegedly
worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden.
The government in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed that for years Aidoudi
had been receiving €1,168 ($1,400) each month in welfare and child support
payments.
"Salafists such as Sami A. have no business in Germany and should be
deported. Germany should not be a retirement retreat for jihadists." —
Alexander Dobrindt, Member of the German Bundestag.
A court in Gelsenkirchen has ruled that deporting a self-declared Islamist —
suspected of being a bodyguard of the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden — was "grossly unlawful" and ordered him returned to Germany.
The case has cast a spotlight on the dysfunctional nature of Germany's
deportation system, as well as on Germany's politicized judicial system,
which on human rights grounds is making it nearly impossible to expel
illegal migrants, including those who pose security threats.
The 42-year-old failed asylum seeker from Tunisia — identified by German
authorities as Sami A., but known in his native country as Sami Aidoudi —
had been living in Germany since 1997. Aidoudi, a Salafist Islamist, is
believed by German authorities to have spent time in Afghanistan and
Pakistan before the al-Qaeda attacks against the United States on September
11, 2001. Since then, he was under surveillance by German intelligence for
propagating Islamist teachings and attempting to radicalize young Muslims.
He had "far reaching" relationships with Salafist and jihadist networks,
according to an official report leaked to the German newsmagazine, Focus.
Aidoudi's asylum request was rejected in 2007 after allegations surfaced
that he had undergone military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in
Afghanistan between 1999 and 2000. During his training, he had allegedly
worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden. Aidoudi denied the charges and
claimed to have been studying during that time in Karachi, Pakistan.
Sami Aidoudi (left) lived in Germany since 1997, until he was deported to
his homeland of Tunisia on July 13, 2018. He is alleged to have undergone
military training at an al-Qaeda jihadi camp in Afghanistan between 1999 and
2000. He had allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin-Laden (right)
during his training. (Image sources: Aidoudi - SpiegelTV video screenshot;
Bin Laden - Wikimedia Commons)
Despite rejecting Aidoudi's asylum application, German courts repeatedly
blocked his deportation out of fears that he could be tortured or mistreated
in his homeland.
In April 2017, for instance, a court in Münster ruled that Aidoudi faced
"the considerable likelihood" of "torture and inhumane or degrading
treatment" if he returned to Tunisia.
In April 2018, Aidoudi's continued presence in Germany sparked public
outrage when it emerged that he had been living in Bochum for more than a
decade with his German wife and their four children — at taxpayer expense —
even though German intelligence agencies had classified him as a security
threat.
In response to an inquiry from the anti-immigration party Alternative for
Germany (AfD), the government in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed that for
years Aidoudi had been receiving €1,168 ($1,400) each month in welfare and
child-support payments.
In May 2018, Germany's Constitutional Court ruled that another Tunisian
jihadi — identified only as 37-year-old Heikel S., accused of involvement in
the March 2015 jihadi attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis — could be
deported to his homeland.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer seized on this ruling and called on
immigration authorities to make Aidoudi's case a top priority. "My goal is
to achieve deportation," he said.
On June 25, Aidoudi was detained after Seehofer ordered immigration
authorities to expedite deportation proceedings.
A few weeks later, on July 13, before dawn, Aidoudi, escorted by four
federal police officers and a doctor, was placed on a specially chartered
Learjet and flown from Düsseldorf to Tunisia. Aidoudi's deportation cost
German taxpayers nearly €80,000 ($95,000), according to Focus magazine.
Although the Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court had blocked Aidoudi's
deportation the night before, the decision was not passed on to immigration
authorities until the next morning — after the plane was already airborne.
When the court learned of Aidoudi's deportation, it demanded that he be
returned to Germany. The court said that Aidoudi's deportation had infringed
upon "fundamental principles of the rule of law." The judges, apparently
sensing that they had been duped, complained that German immigration
authorities had failed to reveal to them the time of Aidoudi's flight and
implied that those authorities had "knowingly" defied the court's order.
The next day, on July 14, Tunisian authorities added fuel to the fire by
saying that they had no plans to return Aidoudi to Germany. "We have a
sovereign justice system that is investigating him," a spokesperson for
Tunisia's public prosecutor's office, Sofiene Sliti, told the DPA German
news agency.
On July 17, Aidoudi claimed that his deportation was "pure racism" and
implied that he would file a lawsuit against the German government. In an
interview with Bild, he said:
"I was kidnapped from Germany. At three o'clock in the morning they simply
took me away. I told the police: 'This is not possible. A court has blocked
my deportation.' But they said the order had come from the top and that I
could not do anything about it. I was not even allowed to see my lawyer.
They also prevented me from contacting my wife and children."
Seehofer blamed the deportation on a "communication failure" but his critics
accused him of knowingly trying to out-maneuver the German courts.
Justice Minister Katarina Barley, a Social Democrat, said:
"What independent courts decide, must apply. When the authorities choose
which judicial decisions they will follow and which they will not, that is
the end of the rule of law."
In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Greens leader Robert Habeck said:
"Either it is absolutely embarrassing chaos, or it stinks to high heaven,
because the authorities at the interior ministry wanted to make an example
[of Sami A].
"First and foremost, we need to clarify whether Interior Minister Horst
Seehofer personally tried to circumvent the court's decision.
"In any event, the damage that has now been done is much greater than
waiting for the court decision. The authorities are weak and stupid,
especially in times when trust in institutions is dwindling."
By contrast, critics of Germany's deportation system called for changes to
the existing laws. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group member Axel Fischer said
that under the current system, "The personal rights of Islamists are given
more weight than the security interests of the German people." He added that
current legislation "gives the impression that it is virtually impossible to
deport Islamist perpetrators to countries such as Tunisia, regardless of how
dangerous they are."
In an editorial published before Idoudi's expulsion, the newspaper Bild
commented on Germany's dysfunctional deportation system:
"The deportation lunacy of ex-bin Laden bodyguard Sami A. is never-ending.
German authorities still see no way to send the top Salafist back to his
homeland — even though Tunisia's Minister for Human Rights, Mehdi Ben
Gharbia, assured Bild that there is NO risk of torture in Tunisia.
"Since 2006, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the
state government of North Rhine-Westphalia have been trying in vain to get
rid of the former confidant of the mass murderer Osama bin Laden.
"Although the al-Qaeda man (living in Bochum since 1997) is classified by
the constitutional protection as a 'dangerous preacher,' he continues to be
tolerated in Germany, and collects 1,100 euros in monthly support.
"In the words of Alexander Dobrindt, a Member of the German Bundestag,
'Salafists such as Sami A. have no business in Germany and should be
deported. Germany should not be a retirement retreat for jihadists.'"
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook
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