The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) has stopped the deportation of an asylum seeker criminal from Austria to his home country Syria with a last-minute injunction.
Originally, the Austrian interior ministry had planned to deport the man on August 12.
On August 11, the Strasbourg-based court ruled that Austria may not carry out the deportation until at least September 8, 2025. The ECHR also submitted several questions to Austria on the fate of a criminal deported to Syria on July 3.
That was the first-ever deportation from a European Union member state to Syria after the fall of the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad in early 2025. The deportee – a 32-year-old man sentenced to seven years in prison, allegedly for pro-Islamist agitation – has not been heard of since.
In a communiqué cited by Austrian newspaper Die Presse, the interior ministry said an “interim measure” by the court was “no surprise” and “nothing unusual”.
“All preparations for the implementation of this deportation and further deportations to Syria are continuing,” the ministry wrote.
Pro-asylum NGOs rejoiced at the court’s decision.
“The last person deported to Syria has disappeared. Against this backdrop, it is completely irresponsible of the Austrian government to continue with the deportations”, said Ronya Alev, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International.
Interior minister Gerhard Karner (Austrian People’s Party, ÖVP) had previously said the idea that Austria was responsible for the fate of the deported criminal in Syria was “aloof and unworldly”.
“A strict, tough and fair asylum system can only work if deportations are carried out consistently. If you sit somewhere in a tower of clouds and refuse to acknowledge this, then I think that’s wrong,” Karner told state broadcaster ORF on August 10.
Herbert Kickl, leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), called the ECHR’s decision “a further total failure of the ÖVP-led government and a declaration of bankruptcy for minister Karner’s security policy”.
Kickl said it was denial of reality to call the court’s measure normal.
“We do not need a government that prioritises protecting perpetrators over protecting victims and allows itself to be pushed around by foreign courts,” he said.
“We must restore national sovereignty: Criminal asylum seekers must be deported immediately – no ifs, no buts, no bureaucratic delays and no submissive acceptance of judgments that jeopardise security in our home country!”
