Denmark begins expulsion of Iraqi refugees

The Danish government for the first time is forcibly deporting Iraqi nationals whose application for asylum has been turned down. The government's deportation of 244 Iraqis has been the point of fierce public outrage since the Danish and Iraqi governments agreed in May to repatriate Iraqi refugees whose asylum requests were rejected, dpa reported. Some of the Iraqi individuals and families who are to be deported have been in Denmark for up to ten years. Human rights organizations, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and numerous Danish civil societies have asked the government to allow them to stay on a humanitarian basis, citing Iraq's precarious security situation.