Petition submitted by students demanding the restoration of the Yezidi family - Students present a petition for the restoration of the Yazidi family.
In a controversial move, a Yazidi family, consisting of a mother and three children, was forcibly deported from Lychen, Uckermark, Brandenburg to Iraq two weeks ago. The family had been living in Germany for several years, with the children integrated into local schools.
The deportation occurred despite an active court order from the Potsdam Administrative Court, which had halted their removal and granted suspensive effect to their asylum appeal (VG 16 L 845/25.A). The court order arrived only after the family had already been deported.
The Yazidis, a religious minority, have been recognised as victims of genocide by the German Bundestag in 2023, following the atrocities committed by the IS terror militia in 2014. The family had fled ISIS persecution in Iraq.
An urgent application for their return is still pending. The Administrative Court later rejected the family's lawsuit against the rejection of their asylum application from 2023.
The deportation has sparked significant controversy, as it occurred while a legal emergency application to stop their removal was still pending. The move was criticized by the Greens, Left, Pro Asyl, and the Refugee Council, and advocacy groups like Nadia’s Initiative have condemned the deportation as retraumatizing genocide survivors and called for an immediate review and moratorium on Yazidi deportations.
Brandenburg's Interior Minister Rene Wilke has expressed commitment to facilitating the family’s return to Germany, acknowledging the deportation might have violated a judicial order. The family is expected to be present at the handover of the petition, which was initiated by students from Lychen and has so far garnered around 35,000 signatures on the Change.org platform. State Parliament President Ulrike Liedtke will receive the petition today.
Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) announced a critical review of the case, reflecting tensions between Germany’s legal asylum system and political decision-making under recent government efforts to tighten asylum policies, especially affecting vulnerable groups like Yazidis. The review comes as the petition is still being considered by the Brandenburg state parliament.
The controversial deportation of the Yazidi family, despite an active court order, has raised questions about the alignment of community policy with legal proceedings, as well as the broader employment policy regarding asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable groups like Yazidis, in light of recent government efforts to tighten asylum policies. The ongoing debate surrounding the family's case, characterized by political criticism and advocacy group condemnation, is echoed in the general-news discourse and crime-and-justice discussions, highlighting the gravity of the situation.
