Forced deportation of Kurdish woman from Denmark sparks outrage

"But while in transit, Danish government officials were forced to return her and her children to Denmark due to the woman's resistance and severe bleeding caused by self-harm, as well as her children's screams and reactions by passengers," the source said. 
Denmark forcibly deported Qadamkheir Haqanizadeh, 37, and her two children on Tuesday, Mar. 29 (Photo: Kurdistan Human Rights Network)
Denmark forcibly deported Qadamkheir Haqanizadeh, 37, and her two children on Tuesday, Mar. 29 (Photo: Kurdistan Human Rights Network)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The violent deportation of a Kurdish woman from Denmark on Tuesday has been strongly criticized by the Iranian government and Danish political parties.

Iran's embassy in Copenhagen has strongly protested the violent deportation by Danish police of a Kurdish woman  from Iranian Kurdistan, Iran's AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA) reported.

In a Friday meeting with officials of Denmark's Ministry of Immigration and Integration and the Foreign Ministry, the Iranian Ambassador to Copenhagen, Afsaneh Nadipour conveyed Tehran's "strong protest", ABNA reported.

On Tuesday, Denmark forcibly deported Qadamkheir Haqanizadeh, 37, and her two children after their asylum application was rejected. 

She was hit by plainclothes police, tranquilized, and pulled out of one of Denmark's refugee camps in the Hvalso town of the city of Lejre, where she lived seven years after applying for political asylum. 

Videos of the incident shared on social media sparked outrage.

"More than six police officers arrived at the camp where Ghadamkheir Haghanizadeh and her family resided in Avnstrup, Denmark. They forcibly separated her from her one-year-old child and took her and her twin sons to a deportation center", said a relative of the asylum seeker who spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), a Kurdish human rights organization.

Another source told the KHRN that on Wednesday, Mar. 30, Haghanizadeh and her two children, Yousef and Younes, were taken to Istanbul on a public flight. 

"But while in transit, Danish government officials were forced to return her and her children to Denmark due to the woman's resistance and severe bleeding caused by self-harm, as well as her children's screams and reactions by passengers," the source said. 

KHRN said authorities currently hold Haghanizadeh despite her deteriorating physical condition. Her two children have been returned to their father at the refugee camp, a relative told the organization.

Haghanizadeh and her family are Yarsani Kurds from Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah province, western Iran, who arrived in Denmark in 2015.

Yarsan, or Ahl-e-Haq, meaning "People of Truth," is a religious and ethnic minority primarily residing in the Kurdish-dominated province of Kermanshah (Kermanshan) in northwest Iran.

According to a report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran in 2019, Iran's one million Kurdish Yarsanis face discrimination.

Read More: UN Special Rapporteur says half of Iran's political prisoners are Kurds

"They have also reportedly faced arbitrary arrest, harassment, and detention based on national security-related charges such as propaganda against the state," the report notes.

On Sept. 25, 2018, the grandson of a Yarsani leader was allegedly killed under torture in Hamedan prison after spending one year in detention for alleged propaganda against the state.

The KHRN reported that the Danish government has stated that their deportation to Iran would not threaten them because Haghanizadeh and her two children had officially traveled from Iran to Turkey with passports.

The Local, an English news website in Denmark, reported that the Danish broadcaster DR said that the Danish Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye has been summoned to a parliamentary committee.

Some lawmakers from political parties have condemned the organization, as well as human rights organizations.

Read More: Denmark tells some Syrians to leave, separating families

The news website also reported that Danish law allows the use of physical force in deportations if necessary when a person without legal residence status in Denmark does not comply voluntarily with their deportation travel.

Moreover, the Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw reported on Sunday that Haqanizadeh was sentenced to one month in prison by a court in Copenhagen.

"The judge said that Qadam Khair must be detained until the end of the administrative process for the deportation case of her children, her husband, and herself, and they subsequently will be deported," Said Cyrus Azizizade, Haqanizadeh's husband, told Hengaw.

He also added that if Haqanizadeh is released, “they will go to another country, so until the end of proceedings and we will be deported to Iran, she must stay in detention."