BERLIN: The German government on Wednesday defended its decision to deport an Afghan back to their homeland despite not being convicted of any crime.

As part of the tighter immigration policy pursued by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz since he took office last year, on Tuesday the latest in a series of flights took off from Germany carrying 31 Afghans returning to a country run by Taliban authorities.

The government has said its priority was to send back people convicted of serious crimes, but Tuesday’s was the first such flight which included one deportee who was not a criminal, a move sharply criticised by refugee rights’ groups.

A spokeswoman for the interior ministry told a press conference Wednesday that the government’s aim was to “begin with deporting people who have been convicted and those who pose a threat” but that it was also possible “to put people on deportation flights who are not criminals”.

On Tuesday Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that those on the latest flight were mostly “serious offenders who had committed crimes such as murder, rape and acts of violence”. However he admitted that for one person on the flight “the designation of ‘convicted offender’ does not apply”.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2026