German minister calls for halt to Iran deportations over crackdown
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called on Thursday for a national halt to expulsions to Iran due to the lethal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.
"Deportations to Iran are irresponsible in the current disastrous human rights situation in Iran," Faeser told news magazine Der Spiegel.
"A halt to expulsions is the right step, which should be decided as soon as possible by the states," which govern deportation policy under Germany's federalist system.
Faeser said the Islamic republic "is cracking down on peaceful protest with brutal violence", even as young women "rebel with unbelievable courage against rule by violence and oppression".
"We must do everything we can here in Germany for the protection of the courageous Iranian civil society," she added.
The minister from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) was speaking after Lower Saxony, one of Germany's 16 federal states, announced a stop of deportations to Iran.
The region's interior minister, Boris Pistorius, also of the SPD, said he would advocate such a moratorium nationwide at the next meeting of his state counterparts.
Germany expelled 25 people to Iran in the first half of this year, following 28 people in all of 2021, according to the federal Interior Ministry.
Amini, 22, was pronounced dead on September 16th, days after the notorious morality police detained the Kurdish Iranian for allegedly breaching rules requiring women to wear hijab headscarves and modest clothes.
Demonstrations have continued since last month and have claimed dozens of lives, according to human rights groups.
The European Union said Tuesday it was weighing tough new sanctions against Tehran over the brutal clampdown.
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"Deportations to Iran are irresponsible in the current disastrous human rights situation in Iran," Faeser told news magazine Der Spiegel.
"A halt to expulsions is the right step, which should be decided as soon as possible by the states," which govern deportation policy under Germany's federalist system.
Faeser said the Islamic republic "is cracking down on peaceful protest with brutal violence", even as young women "rebel with unbelievable courage against rule by violence and oppression".
"We must do everything we can here in Germany for the protection of the courageous Iranian civil society," she added.
The minister from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) was speaking after Lower Saxony, one of Germany's 16 federal states, announced a stop of deportations to Iran.
The region's interior minister, Boris Pistorius, also of the SPD, said he would advocate such a moratorium nationwide at the next meeting of his state counterparts.
Germany expelled 25 people to Iran in the first half of this year, following 28 people in all of 2021, according to the federal Interior Ministry.
Amini, 22, was pronounced dead on September 16th, days after the notorious morality police detained the Kurdish Iranian for allegedly breaching rules requiring women to wear hijab headscarves and modest clothes.
Demonstrations have continued since last month and have claimed dozens of lives, according to human rights groups.
The European Union said Tuesday it was weighing tough new sanctions against Tehran over the brutal clampdown.
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