Austria Deports Second Afghan Asylum Seeker Convicted of Drug Offenses
Austria’s Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday, November 8, that it had deported a second Afghan asylum seeker who had been convicted of drug-related offenses. The individual, who had been identified and arrested by police in Vienna, was deported to Kabul earlier that day via Istanbul.
Austrian Chancellor has reiterated the country’s strict stance on legal violations, stating: “Anyone who breaks our laws must leave our country.” This declaration comes as government officials have indicated a tightening of deportation procedures for those labeled as “illegal and criminal” asylum seekers.
Gerhard Karner, Austria’s Interior Minister, stated that similar plans are being prepared to deport refugees to Afghanistan and Syria. Austria had previously deported an Afghan convicted of rape and severe violence to Kabul in late October, marking its first such action since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.
The latest deportation has prompted varied political reactions. Austria’s People’s Party welcomed the move, while the Freedom Party criticized it as merely symbolic and a publicity stunt. Michael Schnedlitz, leader of the Freedom Party, issued a statement claiming that the broad acceptance of asylum applications signaled the Austrian government’s “political failure.”
Despite clear safety concerns for returnees under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, deportations of asylum seekers from Europe are on the rise. In the first nine months of the current year, more than 4,000 asylum applications from Afghan nationals were approved in Austria, with a success rate exceeding 70 percent.
Critics of forced deportations to Afghanistan warn that sending individuals back to a country facing ongoing security crises and Taliban governance violates humanitarian principles and international legal standards.
