Austria deports man to Syria for first time in 15 years

Syrian man, 32, was granted asylum in 2014 but lost refugee status because of a criminal conviction Austria has returned a Syrian with a criminal conviction to his birth country in what it described as the first such deportation since the fall of the Assad regime. “The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, said in a statement.