Between January and September of this year, 222 German pilots refused to return refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan who had reached Germany. The government considers Afghanistan to be a safe country while, at the same time, advising against travelling to some zones due to the high risk of attack on the official website of the German Foreign Ministry.
It is forbidden to repatriate people to countries where they run the risk of death and this contradiction and hypocrisy have been condemned by Amnesty International Germany and other organisations who have called for protest by those who don’t want to be complicit in inhuman expulsion. Most of the cancelled flights to Kabul were to leave from Frankfurt aiport, mainly with Lufthansa, but also with Eurowings, Germanwings, Qatar Airways, Air Algerie and Air Berlin.
News of the protest spread following the German Government’s reply to a parliamentary question from Die Linke.
