When Russia started the war in Ukraine, Hungary opened its borders to the tens of thousands of refugees who escaped the violence. Other refugees have been left without assistance in a field in Serbia. After studying in Hungary for three years, Hasib Qarizada sought asylum there after the chaos of his homeland, Afghanistan, last August. But instead of seeking refuge, Hungarian authorities transported Qarizada across the border six months ago to neighboring Serbia, deporting him to a country he did not even know. “The police just came and handcuffed me,” Qarizada told the Associated Press in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. I was told “Do not try to escape, do not try to fight with us, do not do anything stupid.” BIDEN SAYS “WE UNDERSTAND” POLAND THE UKRAINIAN REFUGEE DATA AS THOUSANDS CROSS THE SOUTHERN US BORDER She was left alone in a field in Serbia without anyone looking for miles, 25-year-old Qarizada had no idea where he was, where to go or what to do. “I was a student and they just gave my life a completely different twist,” he said. “They did not give me the opportunity to get my clothes, my charger (my phone) or my laptop or anything important that I would need to travel.” He told the AP that “he had no idea where Serbia was, what language they speak, what kind of culture they have.” Hasib Qarizada, an Afghan student, stands outside his room at the Krnjaca refugee center near Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday, February 24, 2022. (AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic) Hungarian police did not immediately respond to a request from the Associated Press for comment on Qarizada’s deportation in September. While Hungary is notorious for the way it treats migrants fleeing war and poverty, the Qarizada case shows a particularly gruesome practice of sending people to a third country from which they did not come. Regional rights activists recorded the first such case in 2017, when a 16-year-old Kurd from Iraq was deported to Serbia from Hungary, although he had initially entered Hungary from Romania and managed to reach Austria before being sent back. TENNESS BECOMES THE FIRST STATE TO RECEIVE YOUNG PATIENTS AT THE HOSPITAL OF UKRAINE Most recently, a woman from Cameroon who entered Hungary from Romania was sent to Serbia last December. Another African woman who flew from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates a year ago also ended up in a field in Serbia. “This is something that has unfortunately become normal, normal and something that can not be considered unusual,” said Serbian rights lawyer Nikola Kovacevic. The deportation of Qarizada shows the sharp differences in the treatment of people from Ukraine and those from non-European war zones under right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Hasib Qarizada leaves a shop in the Krnjaca refugee center near Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday, February 24, 2022. (AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic) Similarly, Croatia – another EU country accused of using violence against migrants – has said Ukrainians can come and stay. Activists welcomed the turn, and also warned of discrimination against refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa, who for years faced dangers and repulsion at the borders of Hungary, Croatia and other European nations. “For those of us who are watching these issues, it is difficult to lose sight of the sharp contrast of recent weeks with Europe’s harsh response to people fleeing other wars and crises,” said Judith Sunderland of Human Rights Watch. “An astonishing number of people from Asia, Africa and the Middle East die every year trying to reach Europe.” UKRAINIAN REFUGEE CRISIS GROWS UP IN CONTINUOUS WAR Zsolt Szekeres from the Hungarian Commission in Helsinki noted that “the (Hungarian) government is now trying to explain why Ukrainians are good asylum seekers and other bad immigrants”. As the April 3 elections in Hungary approach, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs dismissed as “false news” media reports that authorities had discriminated against even refugees arriving from Ukraine. Pushing borders, which is illegal under international law, means that people are sent from one country to another without regard to their individual circumstances. When, like Qarizada, they are expelled to a country from which they did not come, “the gravity of the violation is greater,” said Kovacevic, the Serbian lawyer. A Serbian flag appears in a window at the Krnjaca refugee center near Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday, February 24, 2022. (AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic) Qarizada’s deportation was even more drastic, as he had not reached Hungary via any illegal immigration route. A self-funded student who shared an apartment and had a standard life in Budapest, Qarizada sought asylum because the unrest in Afghanistan meant his family could no longer pay for his university tuition and therefore could not . In rejecting his asylum application, activists say, Hungarian authorities ignored the fact that Karizanda’s homeland, Afghanistan, could not be considered safe as the Taliban returned to power. Qarizada told the AP that his family had links to the pre-Taliban Afghan government and was in danger of retaliation. “They just go out,” he said. UKRAINE CHILDREN IN “IMMEDIATE DANGER” WITHIN RUSSIAN INVASION, HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION WARNS Helsinki’s lawyers have referred Qarizada’s case to both Hungarian courts and the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that his illegal deportation was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, Szekeres said. A Hungarian court ruled in favor of Qarizada, but lawyers are now fighting another lawsuit to force the Hungarian authorities to enforce the ruling and allow him to return, he added. “He applied for asylum, he lived here, and he needed protection, and he was expelled briefly,” Sekerres insisted. “He was never given the opportunity or the choice to explain his condition.” For Carizanda, the days after the miscarriage were the worst of his life. An immigrant rests in the Krnjaca refugee center near Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday, February 24, 2022. (AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic) Abandoned in Serbia, he walked for hours, eventually arriving at a gas station where a woman let him charge his phone and directed him to the nearest asylum center. The facility was so crowded that he slept outside for four nights. “I felt very horrible … because I was a regular student. I was studying, I was going to classes. I had my friends. I had my own life,” he said. “I did nothing wrong.” Karox Pishtewan, the Kurdish minor who was deported to Serbia in 2017 and given asylum there, also told the AP that Hungarian police “just opened the gate and told us to go”. CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION “It was July and everything was green,” he recalls. “I was quite shocked. We had not slept for three days and we were kicked out. I had no idea where I was and what was happening.” Sekeres said the acceptance of refugees from Ukraine shows that solidarity with the people in need has remained strong among the ordinary Hungarian people despite the government’s long-standing anti-immigration agenda. “There is no difference between Ukrainian parents leaving with their children and Afghan parents leaving with their children,” he said. “This is a good reminder to everyone that asylum seekers, wherever they come from, need protection.”
