Deported Twice, Released Again: Dresden Court Frees Iraqi Man Despite His Sexual Harassment Record
31st October 2025
On March 5th, 2025, an Iraqi man sexually harassed a 22-year-old woman in Dresden, and the next day he allegedly grabbed a 17-year-old girl’s buttocks, demanding that she go with him. When the minor resisted, the man fled. Shortly thereafter, he started harassing a 10-year-old girl, who started screaming for help, causing the man to flee again. After this latter incident, the police successfully apprehended and arrested him. At the police station, the man continued his rampage by verbally abusing the interpreter and then threatening to kill her.
23-year-old Ismail A. was first granted asylum in Sweden upon his arrival in Europe. He then traveled to Germany and submitted another application there. According to the Dublin Regulation, the country where the application was first submitted is responsible for assessing the asylum application. Accordingly, the police sent him back to Sweden for the second time. After being deported to Sweden in June, 2025 he returned a month later.
Ismail had already come to the attention of the Federal Police in 2024 for resisting ticket inspections, sexual harassment, public indecency, defamation, and obtaining services by deception. When he returned to Germany in the summer of 2025, the Dresden public prosecutor’s office issued an involuntary commitment order against him. He was therefore temporarily placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with psychosis and schizophrenia. Although this was most likely caused by drug use, he cannot be held criminally responsible.