‘No expat being removed from country arbitrarily or illegally’

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Center deports 7,000 expatriates in April

KUWAIT CITY, May 13: The Deportation Center from the beginning until the end of April is said to have deported about 7,000 expatriates, 58 people per day on an average.

A security source said there are clear and explicit directives and instructions which have been issued by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al-Saleh, and the Undersecretary, Lieutenant- General Issam Al-Naham that “no expatriate should be removed from the country arbitrarily or illegally”.

However, the source confirmed the deportation of 250 Bangladeshis during last April, for violating the partial curfew and the labor law by opening unlicensed groceries and shops in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh.

The sources also told the daily the spread of corona epidemic and measures taken by the country to contain the virus is said to have disrupted work of the prison administration as the process of deportation has become complicated. The daily quoting sources said the last batch left the country before the end of last March. Now a very limited number of convicts are deported compared to the three months ending March.

Increase
The sources indicated the halt of flights led to an unprecedented increase in the number of detainees, in addition to some prisoners who several weeks have been waiting for their turn to be deported. The daily added, the process of deporting an expatriate before the flights were stopped was very quick and took no more than 5 days.

The sources pointed out among the deportees are 22 expatriates believed to be the violators of the partial curfew and 7 others who were arrested for posting fake video clips especially those related to the corona virus crisis. The sources also said that a vast majority of deportees have committed crimes, some of which were classified as felonies and violators of residence and labor laws and traffic rules.

The sources revealed 800 men and women are currently staying at the deportation center and are expected to be deported after opening of the air spaces of their respective countries.

All necessary procedures are being carried out such as booking their air tickets, etc. The sources added the number of inmates in the past was more than 1,600 at the deportation center which posed a health and security risk and was contrary to health requirements, in addition to them being a big burden on the administration personnel.

The sources indicated the Ministry of Interior has contracted a company that supervises the cleaning of cells and toilets, using the best detergents to prevent the transmission of diseases in the cells. At the same time the sources revealed some countries have refused to receive their citizens without a health certificate approved by Kuwait’s Ministry of Health stating they are free of infection, and that they were subjected to medical examination.

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