France deports illegal Afghan migrants on joint Franco-British flight

France has expelled three illegal Afghan immigrants on the first joint Franco-British charter flight to Kabul, a move that critics say puts the men's lives in danger.

The flight is part of a plan by Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy to pool resources in the fight against illegal immigration. Britain put 24 Afghan migrants on the flight.

Human rights groups and France's opposition Socialists said France shouldn't have returned the three in a country where the Taliban are fighting NATO forces, including French troops.

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Asylum airlines - your one-way flight to deportationThe expulsion also appears to break with an unwritten French practice of not sending illegal immigrants back home if their countries are at war.

The men were sent on a joint charter flight along with Afghans expelled from Britain, Immigration Minister Eric Besson told Europe 1 radio.

It is not uncommon for Britain to expel illegal Afghans to their home country

The three men are natives of the Kabul area, "a region where there is no risk of bodily harm" for them, Besson said.

A French immigration official has been on the ground in Kabul for weeks to help smooth the men's return, Besson said.

"They will check into a hotel paid for by France, and they will have individualized help and money to settle back in their homeland," Mr Besson said, adding that similar operations were possible in the future.

Martine Aubry, leader of the opposition Socialists, said the government was carrying out "the charter flights of shame."

Speaking on France-2 radio, she said the men "left their country because the Taliban oppressed them. And though we are waging war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, we are going to send them straight into the Taliban's clutches."

One of those deported was arrested during the evacuation last month of the Jungle, the makeshift camp in Calais that served as the base for nightly attempts to cross the channel to Britain.

The others were detained on the Franco-Italian border and in Paris.


Bron: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6401981/France-deports-illegal-Afghan-migrants-on-joint-Franco-British-flight.html