BERLIN (AFP) - US-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Germany to stop revoking the refugee status of thousands of Iraqis who have taken up asylum in the country.
It said Germany has stripped more than 18,000 Iraqis of their refugee status since November 2003 on the grounds that the political situation in Iraq has changed fundamentally since Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
But Human Rights Watch said widespread sectarian bloodshed clearly made it unsafe for Iraqis to go home despite the regime change in their country.