Authorities Wanted To Deport Nigerian Woman, Married To Icelander

A Nigerian asylum seeker was arrested this morning, and authorities were intent on deporting her – despite the fact that she is married to an Icelandic citizen.

DV reports that Izekor Osazee checked in this morning at the Reykjavík police station – as she was required to do daily for the past week, after her impending deportation was announced. Upon doing so, however, she was arrested. Hours later, she was released from custody, and her impending deportation has been canceled pending policy re-workings at the Ministry of the Interior.

Izekor has been in Iceland for about two years now, and has been waiting to get a residence permit since then. Her husband, Gísli Jóhann Grétarsson, told Vísir, “It is unacceptable and intolerable that innocent people are torn away from their families in Iceland solely for being foreign without a permit.”

Gísli stands firm in his commitment to her, telling reporters, “This is my wife. My family. I will stand by her and if she’s sent out of the country, I’ll leave the country with her.”

The decision to deport her was based solely on the Dublin Regulation, which gives signatory nations the right – although not the obligation – to deport asylum seekers to their previous point of departure.