Asylum seeker fails in Czech Republic but succeeds in Germany

Many of you will remember the story of the Palestinian living in Lebanon Ibrahim Zeid, who was forced to spend several months in the transit area of Prague's Ruzyne airport after he arrived without any documentation and was refused refugee status by the Czech authorities. Mr Zeid has now been granted political asylum in neighbouring Germany.

Asylum seeker fails in Czech Republic but succeeds in Germany

Prague's Ruzyne airport

Ibrahim Zeid sought asylum in the Czech Republic last year in August. He came to Prague on a Czech Airlines flight from Istanbul, Turkey, without a passport or other identification. Although his wife and child were in a refugee camp in Germany he came to the Czech Republic because it was the only country he could land in without proper documentation. His goal was to reunite with his family in a country where he said he would not be politically persecuted. But Mr Zeid was refused entry by the Czech authorities and spent over six months in the transit area of Prague's Ruzyne airport, washing in the airport bathrooms and buying food with coupons he was given by Czech Airlines.

A lawyer was eventually found, who helped him to gain admittance to a Czech refugee centre, until a court could rule on the case. The court ruled against his appeal, and so Mr Zeid decided to try his luck in Germany, crossing the country's border in secret. Germany has now granted him political asylum, leaving many asking why the Czech authorities were unsympathetic to his case, and left him in limbo for six months. Here is a brief extract from a statement that the Interior Ministry, which handled Mr Zeid's application, sent to Radio Prague:

Prague's Ruzyne airport

"It is not true that ministry officials held him (a foreigner and sick person) in the transit area of Ruzyne Airport. He remained in this area after the Turkish authorities in breach of international agreements on civil aviation, refused to grant him re-entry to their territory. He himself thwarted the willingness of the Lebanese side to repatriate him on their territory, by refusing to follow the procedure of checking his identity."

So the Interior Ministry is blaming both Mr Zeid himself and the Turkish authorities. But is this fair, and was Mr Zeid's case really weaker than that of other asylum seekers? Earlier, I spoke to Martin Rozumek from the Organization for Aid to Refugees about Mr Zeid's case:

"It is quite normal that refugees arrive without proper documentation. I think it's natural that a refugee who flees persecution is not given an identity card from the country that is persecuting him or her and is not given a visa to enter the country that should accept him as a refugee. So, I would say a majority of refugees come without the proper documentation and very often genuine refugees come without it."

Then why was Mr Zeid not allowed to come into the country, while others are allowed entry?

"I think there was also this atmosphere of a threat of terrorism. Often, persons are suspected without any evidence that they are linked to countries or regimes that could eventually support terrorism. I'm afraid that it is particularly difficult for asylum seekers from Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan, to enter the procedure and expect to get a proper assessment of their asylum claims. Concerning the treatment from the Czech authorities, the problem at the beginning was that the procedure was very fast and many details were not considered properly. I think from the beginning, the Czech authorities wanted to reject the claim as fast as possible and send the person back to the country he came from."

...and now, he has been granted asylum in Germany...

"I would say that Germans are very restrictive. Often when I visit German refugee camps, they are worse than the Czech ones. But the quality of the refugee status determination, the quality of the decision-making is still better in Germany. The German officials did their work properly and were supported by a lawyer we were able to find in Berlin. In the end, the decision was positive. In the Czech Republic he had no access to lawyers and there was a bad assessment of the claim, so the decision was negative."

But you managed to get to him...

"I was only able to talk to him when I travelled somewhere by plane. Without a ticket, I couldn't enter the transit zone and couldn't talk to him. That's the main problem of NGOs, to have access to such persons. There could be another asylum seeker in the transit zone right now without us knowing about it."