Baghdad to facilitate repatriation of Iraqi immigrants stranded on Lithuanian border

Lithuanian border guards build a 550-kilometer barbed wire fence on its border with Belarus. (Photo: Janis Laizans/Reuters)
Lithuanian border guards build a 550-kilometer barbed wire fence on its border with Belarus. (Photo: Janis Laizans/Reuters)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Deputy Parliament Speaker Bashir Haddad announced on Thursday that his government will take an active role in bringing back its citizens who attempted to emigrate to Europe and are now stranded in Lithuania.

“The Lithuanian government asked the Iraqi refugees on its territory to decide whether to stay or not because neither Lithuania nor the European Union (EU) is prepared to receive them as refugees.”

Leaders of Estonia and Lithuania both asked Baghdad on Wednesday to help stem the tide of the illegal smuggling of Iraqi immigrants into Europe through Belarus, which they accuse of intentionally stoking migrant crises in EU member states.

Read More: EU nations ask Baghdad to prevent smuggling of Iraqis to Europe through Belarus

“The Iraqi government will provide all the necessary facilitation to repatriate its citizens, immigrants stranded in Lithuania,” he added.

On Wednesday, five Iraqi immigrants were injured when Lithuanian security forces were preventing them from entering the country by force, according to Belarusian border guards.

The Belarusian Border Committee stated, "The Iraqi citizens were rescued on the border with Lithuania, after the Lithuanian authorities forcibly expelled them, as they showed signs of being bitten by police dogs and they were beaten with firearms."

Editing by John J. Catherine