Italian court rules Egypt unsafe for repatriated migrants
An Italian court has dealt a fresh blow to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s migrant policy by ruling that applications for asylum from Egypt cannot be fast-tracked, according to ArabWeekly and agencies
On November 3rd, the head of Catania’s court Massimo Escher refused to sign a detention order for an Egyptian asylum seeker owing to a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling last month.
While Egypt was included on the government’s list of so-called “safe” countries to which migrants could be returned under an expedited process, Esher said the ECJ ruling changed this policy.
Egypt cannot be considered a “safe” country, he said, because the level of security in such nations must be considered “general and constant”.
He referenced “serious human rights violations” in Egypt, including systematic use of torture by police and violence against human rights lawyers and journalists.
Evidence of discrimination against women, religious minorities and LGBTQ people were also cited.
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Since the ECJ ruling, the Italian government had updated its list of “safe” countries, removing Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria, but it had kept a total of 19 including Bangladesh, Egypt and Tunisia.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s party slammed the Catania court decision saying Egypt was an “increasingly popular holiday destination”.
They said: “Egypt is a safe country for everyone, except for illegal immigrants.”
The lawyer for the unnamed migrant, Rosa Emanuela Lo Faro, said the court had also refused to sign detention orders for four other migrants.
Lo Faro said of the four, two were from Egypt and two were from Bangladesh.
Last month the ECJ ruling was cited by a Rome judge when he ruled against the transfer of migrants to two new Italian-run processing centres in Albania.
READ: Italian court ruling leads to migrants returning to Italy
The migrants were the first group Meloni had attempted to ship to the country.
The Albania deal is a flagship policy of Meloni’s hard-right government and is the first time a European Union country has sought to process asylum applications outside the bloc.
Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, was elected in 2022 on a pledge to stop the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy each year from North Africa.
One year ago Albania agreed to house non-vulnerable male asylum migrants picked up by Italian authorities in the Mediterranean.
Those hailing from so-called “safe” countries were to be swiftly repatriated.
ArabWeekly and Agencies
