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2024-05-05 18:41:34
Witness to the war in the Palestinian enclave, Doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta is the subject of a report for the purpose of banning entry into the Schengen area by the German authorities.
He was to come to Paris to tell the Senate about his experience as a doctor at the heart of the war in Gaza. On Saturday May 4, Ghassan Abu Sitta was refused entry into French territory. “I am at Charles-de-Gaulle airportreported the British surgeon on his account in the morning. They prevent me from entering France. I’m supposed to speak in the French Senate today. They say the Germans banned my entry into Europe for a year.”
The environmentalist senators, at the initiative of the conference on the situation in Gaza during which Ghassan Abu Sitta was to speak, reacted strongly on the same social network, denouncing “a shame” or judging “scandalous” preventing him from taking part in the conference. The organizers explain that they tried, without success, to intervene with the cabinets of Gérald Darmanin and Stéphane Séjourné, the ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. Eventually, “thanks to the mobilization of lawyers”, indicated Senator EE-LV Raymonde Poncet-Monge, the elected officials obtained a link which allowed them to communicate by videoconference with Ghassan Abu Sitta. In the evening, the doctor then took off from Roissy to return to London. “The French authorities are refusing me access to an earlier flight and insisting on sending me on the last flight back, late at night, to London”, Ghassan Abu Sitta had previously tweeted.
“Schengen Borders Code”
Specializing in war injuries, Ghassan Abu Sitta flew to Gaza on October 7, in the wake of the attacks perpetrated by Hamas. This 54-year-old plastic surgeon, born to a Palestinian father and living in the United Kingdom (he practices in London), is used to war zones: during previous conflicts, he had already visited the Palestinian enclave, but also in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Associated with Doctors Without Borders teams, he operated on victims of Israeli bombings in two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli. And when an explosion occurred in the latter compound on October 17, Ghassan Abu Sitta spoke at a press conference organized outside the hospital, lifeless bodies at his feet. from his desk. Returning to the United Kingdom after forty-three days spent treating the wounded, he has since spoken regularly, including in a portrait published by Release in February, to tell his daily life in “hell” of Gaza.
His refoulement at the French border raises questions about the possibility for a third country, in this case Germany, to decide who can or cannot return to France. “How can Germany impose entry bans throughout the Schengen area?” responded Raymonde Poncet-Monge nearby Monde. The rule actually derives from the European Union code “relating to the regime of border crossing by persons”, or “Schengen borders code”. Article 6 of which provides that entry into the Schengen area “for third-country nationals” is conditioned, among other things, on the fact of “not to be reported for the purposes of non-entry into the SIS”.
In the Schengen Information System (SIS), a large database made available to the authorities of the Member States, there is various information which may concern stolen or missing vehicles and objects, wanted or missing persons… And therefore also that on people prohibited from entering the Schengen area. When nationals of countries outside the Schengen area are notified for the purpose of refusing admission or prohibiting their stay, the Member State which alerts them enters information in the SIS such as their identity, their fingerprints, their signs particular physical characteristics and the reasons for the report. Under the European regulation on this information systemthe decision to submit a report is “taken by the competent administrative authorities or courts […] based on an individual assessment”. This decision must be based “on the threat to public order or public security or to national security which the presence may constitute […] on the territory of a Member State” of the targeted national.
A report at the beginning of April
According to our information, regarding Ghassan Abu Sitta, a warning for the purpose of banning entry into the Schengen area for a period of one year was issued at the beginning of April, on foundations of apologia for terrorism, radicalization and anti-Semitism. Contacted to find out more about the facts which justified such a report, the German Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior both redirected us to the German police, who acknowledged receipt of our request without, however, providing any information. response for now. According to our sources, the German authorities are relying on «affiliations» (to groups) which they have undertaken to explain if necessary.
That day, he estimated on X that “silencing a genocide witness […] adds to Germany’s complicity in the ongoing massacre.. Thus adhering to the thesis according to which, by maintaining its arms deliveries to Israelthe German state would be complicit in the destruction in the Gaza Strip.
No room for maneuver
For its part, Gérald Darmanin’s office explains to CheckNews that by sending Ghassan Abu Sitta back to his country, because it is a question of“an individual who presented himself at our borders even though there is a form prohibiting entry into European territory issued by Germany”the French customs agents were content “to apply European law and the Schengen border code”. The sovereignty of European states is at stake: if Germany expresses its refusal to allow an individual to return for security reasons, all other members of the Schengen area are required to prevent this individual from returning. Quite simply because it is enough for him to enter the territory of a Member State and then go to Germany, people traveling freely within the Schengen area.
Therefore, even if it is possible that the French authorities for their part consider that this individual does not represent a threat, they have no room for maneuver, at least immediately. Subsequently, if they consider that there is reason to “to make an exception”they can “carry out work, launch an investigation, discuss with the Germans [dans cet exemple précis, mais le pays varie évidemment d’un cas à l’autre, ndlr]»slips another government source joined by CheckNews. However, this type of approach is very rarely considered.
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