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Top Ethiopian runner Hirsuato facing deportation: The last hopes!
Mamiyo Hirsuato, Ethiopian runner from Giessen, is facing deportation to Ethiopia. Legal remedies exhausted, support needed to obtain documents.
Top Ethiopian runner Hirsuato facing deportation: The last hopes!
A sporting hopeful in the community of Gießen could soon face a drastic fate. Mamiyo Hirsuato, a long-time long-distance runner for MTV 1846 Gießen, is required to leave the country and is facing the threat of deportation to Ethiopia. This bitter news came in a statement from the enforcement authority and the Giessen regional council on Tuesday.
The situation is tense. Hirsuato has already exhausted all legal options after his asylum application was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in June. The background to this decision is that Hirsuato had previously applied for asylum in France. This means that his current application in Germany was viewed as a secondary application.
A runner with an eventful past
The Ethiopian athlete fled Ethiopia in 2022 after an alleged arrest warrant required him to return to his homeland. On his escape, he traveled to Germany via Cairo and Paris, leaving his wife and daughter behind. The rule in European asylum policy is that every asylum seeker is only entitled to an asylum procedure in the first EU country. Hirsuato belongs to the Oromo ethnic group, which is suffering from pressure from the Ethiopian government.
In Giessen, Hirsuato made a name for himself through his sporting achievements. He was able to win several ten-kilometer fun races, including an impressive third place in a road race in Leverkusen in 2024. His club, MTV Gießen, is mobilizing all its forces to prevent Hirsuato's deportation. A signature campaign was started calling for support for the athlete from the public.
The legal framework
The situation is not only a serious issue for Hirsuato, but also raises questions about asylum policy in Germany. Germany is a party to the Geneva Refugee Convention and is obliged to protect the rights of those seeking protection. Nevertheless, drastic decisions can occur, such as the current one in Hirsuato's case, where rejected asylum seekers are considered “required to leave the country” and can be deported. At the end of 2024, around 221,000 people lived in this category in Germany.
The problems in asylum policy are complex. Since the mid-1980s, asylum rights in Germany have been repeatedly reformed, which has led to them becoming more stringent. The “Asylum Compromise” stipulated that people who enter via a safe third country are not entitled to asylum. These legal regulations significantly restrict the options available to those seeking protection and therefore represent a challenge for many.
Despite the legal hurdles and the threat of deportation, Hirsuato received a request to actively cooperate in obtaining travel documents. A lack of passports is currently preventing his deportation and it remains to be seen how the situation will develop for him and his family.
The next few weeks will be crucial, not only for Mamiyo Hirsuato, but also for the debate about asylum law in Germany. The citizens of Giessen show solidarity and hope that the voice of sport will be heard.
For further information on Hirsuato's case and current asylum policy in Germany, it is worth taking a look at the articles by Africa Live and Giessen General, as well as the comprehensive explanations of bpb.de.