Afghan journalist Elyaas Ehsas worked in his country for a television station. – Elyaas Ehsas
He is currently under house arrest in a hostel in Rennes. But Elyaas Ehsas, threatened with death by the Taliban, fears for his life if he is expelled from France. The 27-year-old Afghan journalist, who worked in his country for a television station, belongs to the Hazara community, a Shiite community discriminated against and targeted by the Sunni Taliban. The International Federation of Journalists and its French members of the SNJ and SNJ-CGT appealed to the French authorities “to find a humanitarian solution to our Afghan colleague” who “must obtain without further delay a right of asylum in the homeland of the Declaration of Human Rights ”.
In France, Elyaas Ehsas is considered “dubliné”, named after a European regulation of 2013 which implies its return to the country of the European Union where it was initially registered. However, the journalist fears that, once in Sweden, the authorities of this country will send him back to Afghanistan. “I fear for my life because of threats from the Taliban, if I am forced to return to my country,” he says.
He fled his country to join Sweden and then France
“Legally, there is no more recourse. It is very difficult to take into account the situation of the “dublines” despite the threats weighing on this journalist “, comments Carole Bohanne, of the MRAP.
While working in Kabul “the Taliban [l]’called and [lui] asked to collaborate with them, ”he explains. “They asked me to prove to them that I was a mujahedin and a true Muslim. And, if it wasn’t, they would come and kill me. It was in 2015. Elyaas Ehsas then took the road of exile to Sweden, where he arrived in 2017. His asylum request rejected, he took to the road again last year to come to France and apply for political asylum in 2020.