(AP) Europe’s top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them, and more than two dozen other people, aboard a boat at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.
In a damning decision, the European Court of Human Rights said that Cypriot authorities had returned the two 41-year-old cousins from Idlib, Syria, without processing their asylum claims, making sure they would have the asylum claims processed in Lebanon or ensuring they wouldn’t be forcibly returned to Syria where they could face persecution.
“In light of the foregoing, the court finds it sufficiently established that in the present case the Cypriot authorities essentially returned the applicants to Lebanon without processing their asylum claims and without all the steps required under the Refugee Law,” the court said in its judgment.
