Exiled Syrians in Germany demand end to deportations

Feb 10, 2012, 11:23 GMT

Berlin - Members of the Syrian opposition living in exile in Germany called Friday for a nationwide ban on the deportation of Syrian refugees.

The opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, meeting in Berlin, were critical of the fact that so far only a few states - such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Schleswig-Holstein - had refused to deport Syrian refugees.

Germany is home to more than 32,000 Syrian nationals. Last year, as the violence escalated in their homeland, more than 2,600 Syrians requested asylum.

Ferhad Ahma, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), called for the closure of the Syrian embassy in Berlin and the expulsion of the ambassador.

Germany expelled four Syrian diplomats on Thursday, two days after the arrest of two men - a Syrian and a Lebanese-German - on suspicion of spying on exiled Syrian dissidents in Germany.

The four - three men and a woman - were given three days to leave the country, he added.

Prosecutors said the two men arrested on Tuesday were suspected of having been part of a spy ring working for Syrian intelligence. They are alleged to have infiltrated groups opposed to al-Assad and reported back to their handlers at the Syrian embassy over a period of years.

Meanwhile, another SNC member, Hozan Ibrahim, said at the meeting in Berlin that the international community should recognize the council as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.

Arab League foreign ministers are to discuss the possible recognition of the SNC as Syria's main opposition group, at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday, reported the Saudi semi-official newspaper Al Sharq citing Arab sources.

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