Things would likely have turned out very differently had Faridoon Tofan not taken the bus to Italy. He had intended to go on a short trip to Rome. The 46-year-old — who had fled the Taliban to Germany just under four years ago and had since been working and learning the language — was detained during a border check in mid-April and taken directly to a deportation detention center in Munich.
The reason: Tofan did not have the legal right to leave Germany. His asylum application had been rejected; he held only a temporary residence permit, which does not protect against deportation. He could now be sent back to Kabul, even though he is neither a convicted criminal nor has he been classified as a security threat. His asylum application appeal was definitively rejected in July, and he is now to be deported.Faridoon Tofan fled to Germany from Afghanistan four years agoImage: privat
Tofan's wife and six children are still living in Kabul. They were recently paid a visit by Taliban officials and say they've been living in constant fear ever since and the sons no longer dare attend school, Nina Alizadeh Marandi told DW. She is an asylum law expert at the human rights organization Amnesty International in Germany and in close contact with Tofan's lawyer.
