The following case is about the deportation of an Iranian refugee family with four children, aged 1-11, to Italy.

The authors arrived in Italy in October 2012. Immediately after they were granted asylum, they were evicted from their temporary shelter and forced to live on the streets. They left for Denmark two weeks later. In December 2015, the authors and their children were returned to Italy. For five months, they again lived on the streets and received no assistance from social services. The children were denied access to school and the then pregnant mother was denied access to medical care. As a result, they travelled back to Denmark. In May 2017, the father locked himself in the asylum centre in Denmark with the mother and the children and threatened to kill them with a knife unless the authorities granted them residence permits in Denmark. As a result, the father served three months in prison. Later that year the father attempted suicide and was diagnosed with severe depression and held in a Danish psychiatric institution until December 2017. The family was then flown back to Italy for the second time. During the flight, the authors were handcuffed and each seated next to a police officer. But the Italian police refused to receive the family, as the Danish authorities had failed to notify the Italian authorities of the family’s arrival, and they were flown back to Denmark. On 20 February 2018, the Committee accepted the case and requested not to deport the authors while the case was pending before the Committee. Meanwhile, the Board reopened the asylum case and granted the authors residence permits. Therefore, the Committee has decided to discontinue the case.