On Thursday, August 29th, the Supreme Court ruled in our favor, deciding that 8-year-old Jonas must be brought home from the al-Roj prison camp with his mother.
It has been a long battle to bring him home, and we are deeply grateful for the support we have received along the way, especially from our members, partners, and volunteers.
Jonas has been imprisoned for more than five years in the al-Hol and al-Roj prison camps under inhumane conditions. He is seriously ill, suffering from respiratory and ear, nose, and throat diseases, as well as pain from shrapnel in his body after a bombing attack. In the same attack, he lost his cousin, who was the same age as him.
We now look forward to bringing him home safely, so he can receive the treatment and support he desperately needs.
Once Jonas arrives in Denmark, we will continue to advise and support him and his family, just as we have done with the other children who have been repatriated to Denmark, ensuring they have the best opportunities for a safe and normal upbringing.
We will also continue working to ensure that the 20,000 other children still imprisoned in Syrian prison camps are repatriated, and eventually work towards the complete closure of these camps.
When the government decided to evacuate 14 of the children and their mothers from the Syrian detention camps, five Danish children were left behind because their mothers had had their citizenship administratively revoked.
Only if the mothers agreed to be separated from them would the children be able to return to Denmark – alone.
As a result of this decision, RTC chose to cite the government on behalf of three of the children. According to several experts in the field, separating the children from their mothers would not only be harmful to the children, but it would also be against international conventions to do so.
Today, only Jonas is unable to come home with his mother. RTC will present the case to the High Court December 18th 2023.
In March 2023, the Danish Supreme Court ruled that withdrawing the citizenship from the mother of two of the Danish children in the al-Roj detention camp was illegal.
The government has since offered to evacuate the family, but so far, she has decided to stay in Syria with her children. She cannot comprehend the consequences for her two children when she gets taken into custody in Denmark.
In one of the other cases from October 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Immigration and Integration’s decision to revoke a woman’s Danish citizenship by naturalization while she was detained in Syria was valid.
In May 2023, the Danish government reached a political compromise, which meant that she subsequently could return to Denmark with her two young children after almost five years of imprisonment in Syria.
Jonas' mother and aunt's case on citizenship has been appealed to the High Court.
As of October 2019, it has been possible for the Minister of Immigration and Integration to administratively strip away Danish citizenship from people with dual citizenship. The deprivation can occur if the minister reckons that the person has caused damage to the nation’s vital interests.
An administrative deprivation means it appears outside the courts and you are informed digitally of the removal. After the law was implemented, 12 people had their citizenship removed administratively. Seven of them have complained through lawsuits.
(SOURCE: UIM, ft.dk, DR Nyheder)
