he wife and daughter of Islamist Metin Kaplan, who is serving a life prison sentence in Turkey for treason, were told by judges Friday that their 13-year stay in Germany was over.
Kaplan, dubbed the "Caliph of Cologne" because of his campaign from exile to set up a theocratic state in Istanbul, initially enjoyed political asylum in Germany but lost it for inciting the murder of a former supporter. He was deported in October 2004.
The Cologne administrative tribunal said the wife and daughter had only been granted political asylum in 1992 because of him. He had lost that right, and the two women were not at risk of persecution themselves, the tribunal said.
Neither woman was personally present at the tribunal session on Friday. Their lawyer said she would consult them before announcing if they would appeal to a superior administrative tribunal.
The case started with a letter from the German federal agency for refugees that informed the women they no longer had asylum. Once this has been upheld, the next move would be for Cologne municipal officials to serve a deportation order. |