KRG returns 42 Kurdish refugees detained in Lebanon

The refugees were attempting to go to Europe with the help of human smugglers from Lebanon, a KRG official said.

Mustafa Shilani 2021/10/08 19:33

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) on Friday facilitated the return of 42 Kurds whom Lebanese authorities detained for attempting to go to Europe from there.

Ibrahim Khider, an official from DFR's Department of Protocol and Delegations, told Kurdistan 24's that "these refugees tried to reach a European country through smugglers, but the Lebanese authorities seized their passports" and stopped them.

"They were in a very bad humanitarian situation."

"We opened an investigation into the case, and we reached the refugees (stranded in Lebanon) through official channels," Khider said, adding that "as a first stage, the migrants were transferred to a hotel, pending the completion of legal procedures and their return to the Kurdistan Region."

He noted that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) requested the Lebanese government to withhold from forcibly deporting the migrants.

Erbil and Beirut "agreed to return them to Kurdistan normally," the official said, explaining further that the group included ten individuals from Erbil, 30 from Sulaimani, and two Yezidi (Ezidi) girls.