Austria deports man with criminal conviction to Syria for first time since fall of Assad

The 32-year-old was granted asylum in 2014, but lost his refugee status because of his record

Austria has returned a Syrian with a criminal conviction to his birth country in what it described as the first such deportation since the fall of the Assad regime.

“The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, said in a statement.