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Greek Court Halts Deportation of 4 Sudanese Refugees

Moatinoon
Yesterday, the Administrative Court of First Instance in Athens issued a temporary injunction halting the deportation of four Sudanese refugees, who were denied their right to asylum as a result of the Ministry of Migration and Asylums decision to suspend the registration of their applications for three months.

The four refugees are being held at the Amygdaleza (PRO.KE.KA) detention center awaiting their return to Sudan or Libya under the latest amendment to the Migration Law. With the support of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), they filed appeals before the court to overturn their return decisions and request suspension orders against these decisions. They contend that the refusal to register their asylum applications was based on Article 79 of Law 5218/2025, which stipulates "the suspension of the filing of asylum applications for three months for persons arriving irregularly by ship from North Africa, with their direct return to their country of origin or transit country without registration."

The court accepted the requests and ordered the temporary suspension of deportation decisions pending a final decision on the suspension requests.

On August 14, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued provisional measures (Article 39) in favor of the same four Sudanese refugees, requesting the Greek government not to deport them.

It is worth noting that several bodies—including the Ombudsman, the National Commission for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Association of Administrative Judges, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and 109 human rights organizations—emphasized that the recent amendment suspending the possibility of applying for asylum for three months contravenes international refugee law, international human rights law, and European Union law, which are binding obligations on Greece and are non-derogable.

Groups of Sudanese refugees began arriving in European Union countries after the outbreak of war in April 2023, through two main crossing points: Greece and Italy.

The Greek authorities receive Sudanese refugees in camps. Once they are granted refugee status, they are asked to leave the camp and must fend for themselves without any assistance, except for the very few women who are accommodated in apartments designated for Ukrainian refugee women under the Gender Protection Program.

No Sudanese refugee application has been rejected to date. Of all other nationalities, only Sudanese and Palestinians receive special protection. Their asylum applications are processed under the Fast Track process, which grants them refugee status within an average of three months. Upon successful asylum applications, refugees receive a three-year residency permit and a travel document.

The majority use their residency and travel documents to move to other countries in Northern Europe. They are entitled to free movement within the Schengen Area for visits for 90 days, but they continue to reside and submit new asylum applications. The head of the foreign communities in Greece told Citizens that this is a common phenomenon, as Greece is considered a transit country to northern Europe, and it has created a problem for countries of final arrival.

He added, "Despite preferential treatment for Sudanese, at least so far, it is not possible to request asylum from outside the EU. This means that asylum seekers must first enter the country to submit their application. Entry is a major risk, as the only way to enter is by what has become known as death boats or smuggling." He continued, "We know that some Sudanese have drowned among the thousands drowning in the Mediterranean, but there is no data on the victims."

So far, reports indicate that the total number of people arriving in Europe since the outbreak of the war has reached 11,000, and this number is likely to increase, especially with the increasing number of people heading to Libya.