Off the wire
• Draw for the snooker Masters  • China's Liang Wenbo to meet Higgins in Masters debut  • 2nd LD: Three injured in blast at bus stop in Moscow  • Inner city community rises after riots wins Britain's Turner Prize  • Eurozone to set up constituency agreement for AIIB  • 1st LD: Three injured in blast at bus stop in Moscow  • First penis transplants in U.S. planned to help wounded soldiers: report  • UN deputy relief chief calls for greater protection, aid for Syrians  • Feature: Maria Mandelli, founder of Italian fashion designer Krizia, dies at 90  • UNICEF goodwill ambassador calls for action on climate change in special weather report  
You are here: 　 Home

Finland ready to deport asylum seekers committing crimes

Xinhua, December 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Finland is ready to refuse entry of or deport an asylum seeker who is guilty of a serious crime, the Finnish Immigration Service announced on Monday.

If an asylum seeker guilty of crimes has no grounds for being granted asylum or refugee status, and can safely return to his or her home country, a negative decision will be made involving refusal of entry or deportation, it said.

However, if an asylum seeker has sufficient grounds for being granted asylum or refugee status, the person cannot be denied asylum, even on the basis of a serious crime committed in Finland.

Moreover, a person who is guilty of a serious crime shall not be deported from Finland, if he or she would face a death penalty, torture, persecution or other treatment violating human dignity in their home country.

It was the first explicit announcement by Finnish authority after two Finnish teenage girls were allegedly raped by foreign young men lately arriving in Finland.

The cases, which took place last month and covered by local media, triggered a nation-wide debate on crimes committed by asylum seekers and their impacts on the approval of asylums.

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila then convened his cabinet ministers to prepare for legislation which could enable quick deportation of criminal asylum seekers. Endit