(Ξένη Δημοσίευση) PRESS RELEASE
According to the information received, on
It has been a well established practice that the authorities dissuade such detainees from filing asylum applications; if detainees do insist and file, the authorities prolong their detention for the full three month period allowed by the law, and try to use a fast-track procedure of reviewing the asylum applications so as to reject them and deport the applicants before having to release them. If no applications are filed the authorities release them with orders to leave the country on their own within several weeks. Then, potential asylum seekers file asylum applications in
In view of that, the 39 Iraqis reportedly intended to file asylum applications upon their release. For the first time though, on
However, according to the information, at of
According to the information, police authorities eventually took the 41 applications, plus 8 additional ones from Iraqis and Iranians detained in the same facility. However their communication with the detainees and asylum seekers was reportedly not carried out in a language they can understand but in English, which only one of them could understand but not speak fluently and had to translate back and forth to the other detainees. More significantly, no doctors reportedly examined those who reported having been beaten. Hence, there has been no possibility to independently verify the ill-treatment allegations.
The asylum seekers remain in detention, as is the practice in
Furthermore, the facility of the
OMCT and GHM recall that the Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) documented similar cases during its visit in August-September 2005 and reported them in a report on Greece released in December 2006; in view of the serious related concerns, CPT also carried out an additional ad hoc visit in Greece, in February 2007, visiting mainly detention areas for foreigners awaiting deportation.
OMCT and GHM are very concerned about these reports and urges the authorities to grant asylum to these Iraqis in strict implementation of the Revised UNHCHR Directives and immediately release them. Furthermore, OMCT and GHM call upon the authorities to launch a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law. Finally, OMCT and GHM urge the authorities to fully implement the CPT recommendations to prevent inhuman and degrading conditions of detention of asylum seekers in
Contact:
OMCT: +41 22 809 49 39
GHM: +30 210 347 22 59
World Organisation Against Torture
CH 1211
Tel.: 0041/22 809 49 39 / Fax: 0041/22 809 49 29
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