Germany to comply ‘soon’ with top court ruling on Afghan judge’s visa

BERLIN: The German government will comply with a constitutional court ruling demanding an immediate decision in the visa process for an Afghan former judge and his family living in Pakistan, said an interior ministry spokesperson on Friday.

“We understand that the federal constitutional court has ruled that decisions on these individuals’ visa applications must be made soon,” said the spokesperson.

As soon as the ministry has received the ruling, “we will take the necessary steps,” she added.

Roughly 2,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Germany under a programme for people at risk under Taliban rule or who had worked with German forces have been stranded in Pakistan for months after Berlin froze the scheme, set up by the previous government, to curb migration.

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Germany’s constitutional court on Thursday evening decided to order the government to make an immediate decision on the judge’s case instead of returning it to a lower court.

The court said the extraordinary move was justified by the exceptional urgency of the Afghan judge’s case, as he and his family face an increasing risk of deportation from Pakistan.

Being deported to Afghanistan posed a serious risk to the lives of the judge and his family, as he had handed sentences to members of the Taliban, now the country’s de-facto rulers.

There are “no sufficient grounds for delaying the visa proceedings,” the court said in a statement.