Forced return of Afghans criticised

THE forced repatriation by chartered plane of three illegal Afghan immigrants has been criticised by human rights and welfare associations, the Socialists and two UMP Party MPs.

Immigration Minister Eric Besson has also been accused by one of the MPs, Etienne Pinte, of deceiving him by pretending there were no plans to send the men back.

The immigrants joined a plane that had also collected 24 Afghans from the UK, that touched down in Paris on its way to Kabul yesterday. The men from France were taken from Kabul airport in a French embassy car and taken to a hotel where they will stay two weeks. They will also be given €2,000 French grants to help them settle back.

Mr Besson said “everything is fine,” and added they had been arrested in France under “correct legal conditions” – one at Nice station, one in a Paris square and one at the “Jungle” site in Calais. He said they had asked for asylum but had not made a convincing case for being in danger. They are from “calm” areas, he said. “Just coming from a country that is at war is not enough to have the right to stay in France – if a country renounces forced repatriation it will be a target for illegal immigrants.”

UMP Party MPs Etienne Pinte and Françoise Hostalier spoke out. Mr Pinte said it did not make any difference if the numbers sent back this time were a “homeopathic dose” (ie. small compared to those in France), France had still lost credibility. He added Besson told him on Tuesday there would be no forced repatriations to Kabul – “he deceived us,” he said. Ms Hostalier said forcing the men to go back to an “unstable” country was “criminal.”

Socialist leader Martine Aubry called the forced trip a “charter of shame,” and cast doubt on safety conditions in Afghanistan. “We are in Afghanistan fighting against the Taliban – and these men who are fleeing the Taliban, we send them back into the wolf’s mouth,” she said.

The Association France Terre d’Asile, which has collected a 14,000 signature petition, said: “The image given is of France abandoning its own values,” while La Cimade accused France of “deliberately putting the men in danger.”

Government spokesman Luc Chatel said the action was “firm and fair.” Other forced repatriations may be carried out in partnership with Britain, under an agreement made in July.

Some of the UK the press hit out at the money handed to the French immigrants and expressed surprise that the French were so worked up over so few men.